Complex Simplicities
by missa1
Summary: Taito AU. Deciding what you are going to do with the rest of your life is hard. Especially when what is expected of you isn't what you want. You can't find a way to break the cycle, but what if it's broken for you? On Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

Hey minna. This fic will be multiple chapters in length, hopefully updated every month. I don't want to completely give this fic away by telling what happens so I won't do that. Just know that the oxymoron as the title is important and that I hope it'll be good. Mostly Japanese names, though as the story progresses we see nick names of course. Ages: Matt, Tai and Mimi 18, Sora and Koushiro 17, Jyou 20, Daisuke, Ken and Takeru 16, Kari 15…If there are others to arrive I'll figure it out then. 

This fic will contain Yaoi and most likely small Het parts. Main pairing is Matt/Tai, though in what order you never know. Happy reading.

Complex Simplicities  
By Missa

Yamato sighed in contentment as he closed his history book with a slap. He had finally completed his assignment and still had a few minutes to spare before he had to leave for work. 'I'm finally getting used to this new schedule; it's so much different than it was back home.' He glanced around the sparsely covered room missing his junk, as his father had affectionately called it. It kind of pained him that he couldn't keep any of his music equipment, his stereo system, and his television in this little room of his. On the bright side, he didn't have to sell any of it. His father was paying for a storage room for it until Yamato could earn enough money to store it on his own.

A week ago Yamato had been uprooted from his comfortable life with his father and was now adjusting to the many new changes, though he had no intention of getting used to them. He would only be at this place for about a year at most. His father had said that it would take that long to make sure the new television station he was directing in the United States to have a stable and fully-functional staff.

He shrugged into his jacket and picked up the backpack that held his work uniform. Luckily that was something he hadn't needed to give up either. Instead of having to start from scratch at a new place and work his way up, he was able to transfer straight into the position he had held before. He looked one last time around his room, making sure that nothing was out of its place and nothing that he didn't want seen was visible. He walked out of his much too small room and shut the door firmly. If there was one thing he could not stand, it was his privacy being invaded.

"Mom? TK?" He called out not really expecting an answer. Ever since he had come to live here a week ago he had rarely seen his mom or brother, except during the evenings when he wasn't working. He loved his brother, but his mother was slowly driving him mad. She couldn't seem to find anything about him that she liked and she seemed to derive great pleasure in telling him all the things that he did wrong. Luckily the opinions of others didn't really bother him too much. Seeing as he got no response, he went to the kitchen and checked the fridge for his family's daily schedule. After a quick glance he took out a pen and wrote, "Yamato – Work until 11pm," next to, "Mom – Work until 5 pm" and "Takeru – practice until 5pm."

With a frown, he put on his shoes and made sure that he locked the door as he left the apartment and walked to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator to slowly climb up the five floors, he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Finally, the elevator dinged open and he stepped in without looking and almost ran into a slightly shorter than him, red haired boy. The boy didn't even notice his presence as his nose was stuck in a book. Yamato stood to the side as the boy walked out and down the hall. Yamato stepped into the elevator thinking that he had seen that boy before, but he couldn't be quite sure. He really hadn't taken the effort to meet any new people in Odaiba since he didn't want to make friends just to leave them behind again.

Not that it mattered as no one was willing enough to approach him. He presumed his interesting choice in style bothered many people, not that he cared, of course. He liked who he was and didn't feel the need to change for anyone unless he wanted to. However, no one had come along who he felt like changing for, and he assumed there probably never would be. Yamato snorted as he stepped out of the elevator and out of the building. It was very hard to find someone to be with when you were gay. He didn't have a problem with his preference, he'd even call it bisexual, but not too many people were as open about it as he was. Of course, no one in this town knew him or anything about him so it didn't really matter. With a quick glance down at his watch he hurried to the bus stop.

* * *

Yamato took a towel and wiped the sweat off of his brow. It was unusually quiet at work tonight, so he had decided to take a little break. He instructed tonight's kitchen staff on what to clean and which order needed to be plated next before he went into the break room. He loved his job as a chef because he took pleasure in other people enjoying the food he prepared. He had first started as a kitchen assistant when he was 16, but a few months after he started, the night chef at the restaurant he was working in quit suddenly. Having no one else to turn to on such short notice Yamato's boss gave him a trial run at Yamato's insistence. It had been clear sailing since then. 

When he told his boss he was moving, his boss offered him the night chef job at "The Grill", one of his other restaurants in Odaiba. It closed two hours later than his last job, but he felt that the extra hours wouldn't make a difference, except in pay. He probably made more money than most kids his age that were working part time. He wasn't fitting in here as well as he did at the other restaurant but he was fine with that, as he had always felt that work should be professional.

He blinked as he snapped out of his thoughts and snuck a glance at the clock. It was 10pm and in another hour he would be heading home for the night. Standing up he washed his hands and headed back into 'his' kitchen, catching the end of a conversation by the two remaining members of the kitchen staff.

"I'm always so glad when Taichi doesn't work. It's much slower. People seem to gravitate towards him," the boy, Yamato couldn't remember his name, said.

"I don't care about that," the girl said. Yamato thought for a moment and remembered her name was Mimi. "I don't know how he doesn't keel over and die with all the stuff that he does. I like to know my friends are having fun when they can." She had a look of sincerity on her face when she said that.

"Isn't he coming to pick you up tonight, even though he doesn't work?" the boy asked.

"I told him I would be fine getting home, but you know Taichi. He always feels he has to be there for everyone, even if it's a little thing like walking home alone," she had a strained smile on her face.

"You know, I hear he tried to scale down the side of the school yesterday and fell about half a floor and then got up like nothing was wrong. Sometimes I think he's insane," the boy said.

"He's not insane, he just does stupid things. He's been doing them since he was in Junior High. It's not like we haven't tried to stop him, but now it's like a part of his personality. So even if we don't like it, we deal with it. I just wish people would stop daring him," Mimi sighed and then turned around noticing Yamato. "Hi!" she smiled brightly. "The orders went out as you requested and we haven't had any new placements since then," she said.

"Great job," Yamato said, feeling weird for listening in on their conversation. "Since it's so slow, one of you can leave early."

"You can Jyou," Mimi said, "You have that test tomorrow morning. Go home and study hard, okay?"

Jyou nodded, "Thanks Mimi. We're still on for Sunday right? The gang's all gonna be there?"

"Taichi said he couldn't come. Though he might show up anyway, it all depends on his dad. However, Koushiro, Sora, Daisuke, Kari and TK all said they would be."

Yamato jerked and banged his elbow into a stack of pans, drowning out the end of Mimi's sentence. "Sorry," he mumbled.

The other two in the room shrugged and Matt went back to cleaning the work space so that he could leave on time. For some reason he felt really awkward knowing that his co-workers were friends with his little brother, though he had no idea why. He continued to clean, not really paying any attention to what he was doing until he felt someone poke him in the side. Startled, he turned to face the person and saw Mimi inches away from him. She smiled and stepped back, not outright laughing at his startled expression but giggling slightly.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "Yes?" he asked, trying to not try and sound like he wasn't extremely annoyed, which he was.

"Mr. Tekino closed the restaurant about 10 minutes ago and told us we could leave early. I called your name a few times, but I guess you were thinking too hard. My name's Mimi by the way, I think we go to school together." Mimi said with a smile as she stuck out her hand to shake his.

Yamato blinked wondering how she had said all of that in a span of 15 seconds. In a daze he shook her hand and mumbled out his name. She smiled at him but didn't say anything as she let go of his hand and left the kitchen. Yamato shook his head to clear his thoughts and headed to the men's room to change out of his work uniform. He was definitely thinking too much tonight, something he tried to avoid doing too often as he tended not to stop.

After quickly rushing into his normal clothes he exited the restaurant and was surprised to see Mimi there. "I thought someone was coming to pick you up," he asked glancing at her.

"Well we got out early and Taichi is rarely on time for anything, let alone early. He's got too many things to do, or at least he thinks he needs to do," she muttered the last almost underneath her breath, but Yamato heard it anyway.

He decided to be a gentleman and wait with her until her friend arrived. He was about to start a conversation with her to be polite when he heard her let out a loud gasp and turn white.

Yamato quickly looked where she was looking and saw a group of students standing underneath an overhead walkway looking up. He instinctively looked up and saw a boy on a skateboard getting ready to skateboard down the three flights of stairs.

He almost didn't notice Mimi take off in that direction at a full run. He followed at a slower pace, until he saw the boy actually start to skateboard down the railing. His mind flashed back to the conversation he had overheard in the kitchen and put two and two together. 'So that must be Taichi,' he thought. He couldn't really get a good look at the boy from the distance, except for the hair. He continued to follow at his own pace, until he saw the boy and his skateboard exit off of the railway. For a second he couldn't believe the boy had pulled it off perfectly, but then as the wheels hit the cement the boy's skateboard went askew and he skidded on his knees. Yamato hurried, quickly catching up with Mimi who was almost there.

"Yagami Taichi, you are such an idiot!" Mimi yelled as she ran up to the boy. Yamato hung back a bit not wanting to get involved with the scene before him.

Taichi looked up, surprised to see her and grinned almost impishly. "Mimi, you're not supposed to be off of work yet. Get out early?" He didn't move from his knees, the position he had finally skidded to a stop in.

Yamato could tell that Mimi was thoroughly pissed, scared, upset, whatever you wanted to call it and was surprised when she took a deep calming breath and merely asked, "So how badly are you hurt this time?"

"Dunno yet," Taichi said. He stood up gingerly and glanced down. "Nothing broken just scrapes and bruises as usual when something goes wrong."

Yamato glanced at Taichi's legs and noticed that blood was freely flowing down the boy's left leg from his knee, which was soaking quickly into his sock.

"You're lucky you're wearing shorts and not your school pants. You'd have to buy another pair." Mimi huffed and removed the scarf from around her neck and tried to hand it to Taichi.

"Uhm," Taichi gave a sheepish grin and held out his hands so that his palms faced her. "I don't think I could do a good enough job," his palms were almost as scraped up as his knees, but not bleeding nearly as badly.

"I am not getting any closer to that blood of yours, Yagami!" Mimi glanced around and saw Yamato a short distance away. "Yamato, do you think you could, please?" Mimi gestured to Taichi's leg and held out the scarf.

Yamato rolled his eyes, but took the scarf and started tying it expertly around Taichi's knee taking care that there weren't any pebbles imbedded in the knee. While he was working he heard Mimi explaining who he was to Taichi, but he pretended he wasn't listening.

Satisfied that the makeshift bandage would hold until the other two got where they were going, Yamato stood up and stuck his hands in his pockets. He glanced around just in time to see his bus go by.

"Well shit!" he exclaimed as his eyes followed the bus down the street. "I better get going. It's a long walk and I don't want mom or TK to wait up for me," he left down the street, not even looking back. If he had looked back he would have seen to very shocked faces staring at him.

"Did he just say TK?" Mimi asked as she handed Taichi's skateboard to him.

"Yep," Taichi confirmed. "I'm surprised you of all people didn't notice. It's the first time I've seen him, but he does look almost exactly like Takeru."

"I didn't know Takeru had a brother," Mimi said as she and Tai walked down the street heading in the same direction as Yamato, but at a slower pace.

"I remember TK saying he had a brother once a long time ago, but that they never got to see each other. I think something about his mom not getting along with his father and brother," Taichi shrugged.

"We should try to make friends with him. He goes to our school, you know," Mimi said with a smile.

Taichi shrugged and nodded his head. "It wouldn't hurt any. He probably doesn't know anyone in this area. You said he's one of the night chefs at work?"

Mimi nodded enthusiastically. "He's a great chef, especially since he's so young. I heard that when he had to move, the owner offered him this position since it was the same as he worked at the restaurant in Kangawa prefecture..." Mimi let her voice trail off as she noticed that Taichi was not paying attention to her anymore. She tried not to giggle as she knew what or rather who he was thinking about.

* * *

"I'm home," Matt called out softly glancing at his watch. It was just past midnight, he was lucky he was only 30 minutes late getting home. 

"You're late," his mom said from the living room where she and TK were watching a movie.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I missed my bus." He kicked his shoes off and stepped into the kitchen and pulled out the leftovers that were sitting in the fridge. He tuned his mother's voice out as he was sure she was complaining at him and took his food to his room, not even bothering to heat it up. Once he was in his room he put on his headphones and pressed the play button listening to his new Simple Plan CD at full volume, while inhaling the mediocre dinner. He never did like eating food he hadn't prepared himself, but his mother didn't approve of men cooking all the time. She had actually asked him to quit his job and had been very upset when he refused.

Takeru watched the scene quietly, not commenting since he had no idea what to say. Watching his mom and his brother battle was interesting indeed. He had a feeling that one day soon one of them would explode. That in itself was sort of scary, since Yamato had only been living with them for a week.

About 10 minutes later when he was almost completely absorbed in the movie he heard the phone ring. Not even taking his eyes away from the television set he grabbed the cordless phone sitting next to him. "Hello? Oh hey Mimi, isn't it kinda late?" He listened for another moment and his eyes widened as he sat up completely straight, catching his mother's attention. "You met him? Really? He did what? That moron. Matt? What? Really? Oh wow. Yeah I will. Thanks Mimi." TK hit the end button on the phone and faced his expectant mother.

"And why were your friends calling so late?"

"Well, I didn't know but Matt works with Mimi at the restaurant, and Tai was supposed to pick her up but they got off a little early and he wasn't there. So Matt waited with Mimi so she wouldn't be alone. That's when they saw Tai doing something stupid again. Turns out Tai got sorta hurt, scraped up but nothing too bad. Matt stayed to help clean Tai up and he missed his bus," TK said in practically one breath. "So you see? It really wasn't Matt's fault for being home late; he was just helping someone else."

His mom seemed to be placated and turned back to the television, but TK heard her say, "If he would quit that job like I told him to he wouldn't have been late at all."

TK rolled his eyes. His mom had weird ways of showing that she cared, though when it came to Matt he wasn't so sure. It was the same with Matt. Only he could call his brother Matt here. Even their mom called him Yamato. He didn't like the separation that his brother seemed to hold with everyone, but he understood why he did it.

TK couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized the name of the restaurant that Matt said he was working at as a chef. It should have been obvious since every Friday night he and his friends went to The Grill. He couldn't believe that Matt got a job there as a head chef. TK glanced at the door wondering what else he didn't know about his brother and wondering if his brother would let him get close enough to find out.

'School tomorrow will definitely be interesting,' Takeru thought. 'Now that he's met Tai and Mimi and even helped they won't leave him alone.' TK smiled. 'Maybe now he'll try to make friends.'

Inside his room Yamato was asleep, his empty bowl discarded on his small nightstand and his English book on top of him. He did not know that tomorrow would be one of the most interesting days that he would ever have.

* * *

Inside the Yagami's spacious apartment Tai had just stepped out of the shower, finally finished with cleaning all his cuts from that night's escapade. He applied the ointment so that they wouldn't get infected and gingerly bandaged his knee. He knew that by morning all the scrapes would be scabbed over and what little pain he was feeling now would be gone. 

He glanced at the clock and then to the pile of books on his desk. Reaching for a bottle of water, he popped a couple pills into his mouth and sat down at his desk. 'I should be able to stay up a couple of hours more to finish that last report,' he thought to himself grabbing a pen. He didn't even realize that he hadn't eaten since lunch as he was quickly absorbed into his schoolwork.

It took a few hours, but at around 3 am he finished the essay he had been working on and stuffed everything into his backpack. He then shut his light off and crawled into bed looking at all the interesting shapes the moon was casting on his wall.

Tai glanced at the clock again and noticed that it was now 5am. "Shit," he said out loud glaring at the bright red letters. He had no idea he had been staring at the wall for two hours and now he would barely have enough time to fall asleep before he woke up. Sighing he took his pillow and pulled it over his head, fighting to keep his brain from thinking. He hated when he had insomnia.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" Taichi flung out an arm and smacked his alarm clock off his nightstand, effectively stopping the noise coming from it. His body registered that it was 6am and time for him to get up, but his mind still wasn't awake. He kept his eyes closed, intent on getting at least another hour of sleep before he knew he would have to head out to school when he heard a loud knock on his door.

"Taichi wake up!" his father's voice boomed through the door.

Taichi groaned, but obediently stood up and went to his door and opened it. "Isn't this a little too much dad? Why should I wake up so early when I don't have to be up for at least another hour?"

"People who succeed need to be early risers. It helps the brain wake up better than just rolling out of bed and going on with the day. Now I'm sure you have some studying to do." Taichi's father walked away and down the hall into the living room. Taichi glared after him and then at the other closed doors in the apartment. Life just sucked when you were expected to do and be everything that your father wanted.

Taichi yawned and grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen before heading back to his room. He was about to take a couple more of the same pills he took the night before when he heard a quiet cough behind him.

"Hey Kari," he said quietly, "Go back to bed, you don't have to be awake yet."

"What are those," his sister gestured at the pills in his hand.

"Aspirin," Taichi said glancing down at his knee. "I fell last night and I'm a bit sore. I figured they would help."

Kari nodded and went into the bathroom. She took the toothpaste out of the cabinet, her tired eyes not even noticing the bottle of aspirin that had been gathering dust for many months.

* * *

Yamato felt like a fool carrying two bags to school, mostly because both bags were his. He also hated the uniform they made him wear. It made him look like an idiot. He couldn't do anything about either of them though as he had to wear the uniform and he needed to go to work straight from school that day. He had been told that Friday was always the busiest day at work and he had agreed to take the other chef's shift tonight since he didn't have anything better to do. 

He had left before Takeru did intent on being alone for a while before he had to face the mass of boring khaki and white uniforms. He definitely did not like monotony. He didn't pay attention to anyone around him, listening to his CD player at full blast, something he did very often. He really didn't have anything against people in general, he actually enjoyed the company of others, but only when he felt like it or if they were really insistent or interesting. He definitely didn't like to be in a large group of people surrounding him either. However if he was separated from them by about 20 feet he could handle the large groups. In fact, he would even go as far to say that he found people intensely fun to watch, which he did a lot. He was definitely a people watcher, just not when he had other things to concentrate on.

Sitting down at one of the trees on the schools campus near the far gate and pulled out a writing pad. He figured he would get a few things down before he had to go into class. He was so into his writing and quiet humming that he was startled when he noticed a shadow blocking his sunlight. He glanced up, surprised to see Taichi standing before him. He clicked the pause button on his CD player and took his headphones off. He couldn't help noticing that Taichi seemed very cheerful even though there were bags under his eyes. Of course, most people wouldn't notice if they hadn't been staring so intently, which he was doing.

"Yes?" Yamato almost grimaced. He realized he started almost every question with that one word.

Taichi squatted down, causing Yamato to wince painfully, remembering the gash he saw on Taichi's knee the night before, "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for your help last night. You didn't even know me and you still helped. That was crazy cool of you." Taichi gave him a grin, similar to the impish grin he had given Mimi the night before.

Yamato felt his heart start to beat faster, "No problem," Yamato responded trying to sound at ease with the situation.

"So anyways, Mimi and I were wondering which lunch period you had, if you wanted to sit with us and all," Taichi said.

"I have first lunch, but I doubt you'll see me then. I have something to take care of during that time." Yamato smiled, hoping that it seemed sincere.

"Not a problem man," Taichi stood and shrugged. "I'll probably see you around during classes anyways. Thanks again." Taichi stood and walked towards the school building.

Yamato was kind of surprised he got off with just a casual excuse. Somehow though, he had a feeling that Taichi would be around a lot more than he wanted at that moment. Or maybe just as much as he wanted. He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling it would turn into an interesting day. In the distance he heard the warning bell ring. He quickly put his stuff up and headed towards his first class.

* * *

Yamato looked around the hall, checking for two specific individuals. Mimi and Taichi had been practically stalking him since school had started. First it was Mimi trying to talk to him during the first class of the day, which he didn't even know she had with him until she made her presence known all throughout class. 

He tried to ignore her without seeming to do so, mostly due in part to the fact that the teacher kept glaring in their direction and he had no intention of getting in trouble for even attempting to talk back to her. As soon as the bell rung though, she had managed to corner him before he could leave the classroom.

She had practically begged him to eat lunch with her and her friends that day, but Yamato declined. He felt he had been polite as possible while doing so, but he could see that she was a little hurt by his refusal. If she asked again next week, he would probably say yes, he just really wanted to finish the song he had started before school and lunch was the perfect time to do it.

During the next class he wasn't surprised to see Taichi sit next to him. After all, he had told him they would see each other during classes. Unlike Mimi, Taichi didn't bother talking to him during the class; he was too intent on what the teacher was saying. This gave Yamato the perfect opportunity to study the interesting boy. He wouldn't call it 'checking him out' even though that was exactly what he was doing.

The first thing he noticed was that Taichi was decently built, but not overly muscular. He could tell Taichi was very athletic, but he couldn't tell if he played any sports. Taichi definitely had a lot of hair, which was styled in a very weird fashion. Somehow though, Yamato thought that he would look even stranger without that style of hair. He knew that Taichi had brown eyes that almost matched his hair, but he wasn't quite sure of the exact shade of coloring.

He made sure to turn his eyes forward every few minutes so that he didn't look too obvious about what he was doing. He didn't know why he was so interested, just that he was. He had a feeling that there was a lot more to Taichi than met the eye. He seemed like a good student, he was definitely hot, and he seemed to do a lot of stupid stunts. Not much of a basis for Yamato to make any solid conclusions on, except for the hotness factor.

Taichi could feel Yamato's eyes on him but didn't show any indication that he knew he was being stared at. He thought it was great fun that Takeru's brother was so interested in him, especially since Taichi got the feeling that Yamato needed friends here. He was sure that Yamato had friends back in his old city. Yamato didn't seem to completely spurn people off, but Taichi didn't think that Yamato was even going to make the attempt of gaining new friends here.

He had no idea why Yamato seemed so intrigued by him, but the attention definitely didn't bother him. It was nice to be noticed by other people, especially when it was a good looking boy and you weren't doing something dangerous.

Taichi also felt another pair of eyes on him which was definitely not unusual. He knew that Sora would be staring at him, the assignment forgotten with a dreamy expression on her face. He managed to not roll his eyes in exasperation. Sora was a great girl, a really good friend, but entirely too persistent for her own good. It was annoying the way she always hit on him, he just hoped that it would be a phase that she would eventually outgrow. Maybe her system just needed a better shock than he had previously given it. Telling your friends you liked boys and not openly showing it other than comments probably left room for doubts.

Taichi himself had no doubts about his orientation, but it wasn't something that he wanted to flaunt openly as he didn't want it getting back to his father. Though if it ever did, he would face that with full determination. Not like his current sneaking around his father's expectations. Taichi knew he had a lot of tough choices to make, but if he could just hold everything together until it was too late to change, then he knew he would be just fine. The problem was holding it together.

The bell rang, pulling Taichi from his thoughts and he glanced away from the board where the teacher had written that weekend's homework assignment. He stood up and approached Yamato's desk, but before he could get there, he had Sora hovering next to him. He turned his attention to her and pushed all his other thoughts out of his head.

* * *

"I see no one got Yamato to come sit with us for lunch," Mimi said with a pout. 

"He said he had something to do, you should respect that," Taichi said nibbling on an apple.

"What could he possibly have to do during lunch? It's not like he has any friends here," Mimi said. She turned and looked at Takeru, "Do you have any idea why your brother didn't join us?"

Takeru shrugged. "Matt hasn't been too happy since he came here. He had to leave a lot of his friends and most of his stuff behind. He's probably just trying to adjust on his own to the situation."

"What do you mean he had to leave most of his stuff?" Taichi asked.

"Well mom and I don't exactly have the largest apartment and before it was just Matt and my dad, so my brother's stuff was all over the place. It never bothered my dad since it kept Matt out of trouble. I know that things like his television and stereo system are in storage, same as his amps I think. I also think that one of his friends is holding onto his guitar until Matt can find a place other than our apartment to keep it," Takeru shrugged as he finished, "All he pretty much came with were his clothes. Mom wouldn't even allow him to bring his posters."

"Sounds like he has a lot of things to get used to," Mimi said.

Taichi just sat at the table taking small bites of his apple, his mind going a mile a minute before excusing himself to go to the restroom, which no one believed but played along with anyway.

At the same time, Yamato was up on the school roof, desperately trying to finish the song he had started in the morning. He wasn't sure why he was so desperate to complete it; he just knew that he had to. He looked over the first verse of the song and sang it softly a couple times to get the right tempo and feel for it. He flipped the page over and made some notations as to what kind of beat would be playing where.

Sighing he gave up with the notations and reached in his bag and pulled out a leaflet of empty music scores and started humming notes. Once he matched the first line of the starting verse with the notes that he drew he put the music sheet down and worked on the next line.

This continued until he finally completed the first verse. He glanced at his watch and noticed that his lunch was almost up. Packing up the music sheet he decided to go through one final sing-through of what he had written to make sure that it at least sounded right. When he had the chance he would be able to ignore that part and work on the chorus.

By now he had the words memorized, so he closed his eyes to focus better and sang freely, as the wind wouldn't carry his voice very far. Satisfied, he made one last notation before starting to put it in his bag with the rest of his stuff. As he was zipping up his bag he turned around startled by the quiet applause that finally reached his ears.

There stood Taichi with a look that could only be described as mesmerized clapping his hands together in obvious appreciation. Yamato froze with a deer in the headlights expression on his face, obviously shocked that he hadn't noticed someone else's presence.

"That was awesome man," Taichi said shaking his head slightly in amazement, "Sorry to intrude though, I came up here to escape Sora and by the time I realized anyone was here I couldn't help but listen." A little white lie wouldn't hurt anything; he hadn't even seen Sora and he had definitely been looking for the blonde.

Yamato blinked to wake himself from his shock and shrugged his shoulders. "It's a start, but it's not a completed work yet. I just started it this morning." He had no idea what to say to Taichi and he was actually a bit embarrassed. He had never had anyone listen to his unfinished work before and he wasn't sure how he felt about Taichi's intrusion.

"What class are you going to now," Taichi asked as if he picked up on Yamato's discomfort, thus changing the subject.

"I have Physics next," Yamato said slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah me too," Taichi said. He inclined his head in Yamato's direction, "Wanna walk with me there?"

Yamato shrugged in response. "Sure, that'd be cool, Taichi."

Taichi grinned, "Call me Tai. Everyone except my father does unless I've pissed them off or something."

Yamato nodded. "You can call me Matt then; it'll probably make things easier."

They headed down the stairwell towards their next class, talking about the homework from the night before.

* * *

Next part will feature a night at The Grill, and a Sunday surprise. Will there be revelations and/or declarations to be had? Maybe. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I forgot this the last time. I don't own Digimon. Again, yaoi (though none yet) and it is alternate universe. This is not beta'ed yet. 

AN: The chapter kind of seems cut off a bit, because it is. It was the only place I could even remotely cut it off at. It was 18 pages before I realized it wasn't going to end any time soon, so I just picked the best spot, which happened to be page 10 and snipped it. On the bright side, this means there are already 8 pages written for the next chapter.

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Reviewers: 

KoumiLoccness: It's called creative license, dear. Don't worry, there's a reason for the way I did the ages. It's also the part where I said it was AU. Thanks for the review.  
Takato the dreamer: Thanks for your kind words. Hope this update was fast enough. Tyson: Thanks for the review. I know it's kind of cliché, but pretty much any storyline out there is now. Hopefully the twists will make it more interesting. And yeah, Tai wouldn't be Tai if he didn't do stupid things.

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Chapter 2: 

Matt finished cleaning his work station for the umpteenth time, trying to alleviate himself from the boredom he was currently feeling. He had been at work for two hours with almost nothing to do. He had remembered hearing that Friday nights were the busiest night of the week at The Grill, but from the way the past two hours had gone, he was beginning to doubt it. 

Since the moment he had entered the building he had noticed a certain lack of activity. Even when he had worked earlier in the week there were more people there. So far today the staff had been at a minimum, two waiters, one bartender and himself with no kitchen staff. It was nearing 5 pm and he was starting to wonder if being told Friday was the busiest night was just a joke. 

His stomach growled slightly, reminding him that he had skipped lunch to work on his song and that he hadn't had the chance to eat before he started his shift. It wasn't the first time he had skipped a meal or two and he was certain it wouldn't be the last. He would just have to make himself something to eat before he left for home that night. He didn't want to deal with his mother's cooking, especially if it was one of the only things he would have eaten that day. 

He jumped when the door to the kitchen opened and Mimi came in. He had almost started thinking again, which would have led to disastrous results, like his not paying attention. 

Mimi was as bubbly as ever, greeting Matt with a hundred-watt smile and an exuberant greeting, "Hi Yamato! Sorry I missed you at lunch! Are you ready for a busy night?" 

Matt raised his eyebrow. "Busy? I've made no more than four dishes in the past hour with no help. This is not what could even be termed as busy." 

Mimi giggled, her grin not leaving her face. "Give it less than two hours. All the kids from the rec center come here after it closes for the evening, especially on Fridays. The people just seem to migrate. More of the staff will show up soon, so we better get everything prepared for tonight. It's just us two back here, Jyou has the night off and Ryo called in. There's gonna be a lot of work to be done for about a two hour stretch, then it should slow down a bit." 

Matt raised his eyebrow. "Is it really going to get that busy?" 

Mimi nodded. "Definitely, they'll probably move a waiter or waitress back here to help up a little during the rush. It just depends on if Tai can keep the waiting staff organized enough." 

Matt still looked skeptical but shrugged, "Where's the rest of the staff then? I've only seen one or two people show up besides you." 

"Oh they'll be here within the next 30 minutes or so. Tai should be the last one in, since he'll have to shower before he shows up. Mr. Tekino doesn't like when he comes to work sweaty," Mimi scowled slightly, "I don't know what he has to complain about really. Tai brings in half the crowd on Friday's on his own since he tells the kids at the rec center to come." 

"What does Tai do at the rec center?" Matt asked. "He didn't bring anything up at our conversation at lunch." 

Mimi beamed. "Ah hah! I knew he went to find you. Bathroom my ass! Oh he's gonna get it when I see him!" Mimi bounced for a minute before calming down to reply to Matt. "He does some volunteer work. I've never really gone to see what he does, I usually have to work or get tutored. He spends a lot of time there though." 

Mimi made sure there were plenty of clean dishes ready for when the rush would arrive, "What do you do in your spare time, Yamato?" 

"I play music or just hang out with friends. I never really had to do anything I didn't want to when I was with my father. Just so long as I never got arrested he didn't really care what I did." Matt shrugged. "Well that and make sure there was something ready to heat up when he came home. If I was working I would just bring something from the restaurant, otherwise I would wait for him to get home and make him something." 

"Sounds like you have a pretty easygoing life," Mimi said. 

"It would seem like that, but life isn't all fun and games, even if you're allowed to do whatever you want." Matt grinned slightly and changed the topic. "So what are the typical orders for Friday?" 

Mimi bit her lip. "That's always hard to tell. You would figure that with the kids from the rec center coming here it would be a lot of the finger food items and that sort, but sometimes the parents come too. This part of the community is pretty close so usually the parents will bring their kids here. Last Friday was a finger food day, so we'll probably have a large variety of dishes this time." 

Matt shrugged, "All right then. If it's going to get as busy as you say, we better start getting everything placed where it's easiest to get to." 

Mimi nodded and they got to work setting up the kitchen for themselves. 

Nearly an hour and 45 minutes later Matt was almost regretting his earlier thoughts of boredom. Tai had come in just before 6 pm and gave a friendly wave before he was back out into the dining area assigning positions to various staff for the night. Once tables were assigned to different individuals he quickly went about making sure the tables were organized correctly. 

"He works fast," Matt had commented watching from the kitchen door. 

"He has to," Mimi had responded, "The rush should be here any time. It will start slow, but it'll be busy before you know it, but we're ready for it. His job is to make sure everything out there runs smoothly, it's your job to have things run smoothly in here." 

"I know that Mimi," he had responded back, closing the door and getting ready to cook. 

**DING** The sound of the timer on the fryers brought Matt back to reality and he quickly removed the French fries from the fryer, quickly seasoned them again and put them on a plate covered with cloth. He moved it over so that Mimi could prepare the fries on the correct plates and place them on the counter shelf if they were ready. 

Before Matt could even turn around another beep sounded, letting him know that the baked spaghetti in the oven was nearing completion. He had just enough time to pull it out before he had to go and flip two of the six steaks cooking. "Remind me why I chose to work at Japanese/American restaurant?" he muttered. 

Mimi had expertly gone and removed the baked spaghetti from where Matt had placed it and set it on the correct plates with the French bread that had already been prepared earlier. She placed the order up on the counter shelf and then turned to Matt. "Matt go ahead and start on the preparation on the next two orders, I can turn the steaks and make sure they get plated. We'll probably need a new pot of mashed potatoes soon, but I can do that too if you want." 

Matt gave her a grateful smile and moved off, not even realizing that she hadn't called him by his full name. "That'll be fine, just remembering the list I put out for which seasoning goes with the potatoes when you plate them. It's very important depending on what kind of dish they want." 

Mimi nodded as she turned a steak over with one hand while moving another one to a fresh plate with the other hand. "Don't worry I got it covered. Just make sure I don't get out of order. I'm not quite used to it being this fast either." 

At that point Tai came in through the kitchen door. "Okay guys, we have a full house with people eating or waiting for their orders, so it should slow down now that this first rush is over and we'll have to wait for some folks to clear out before others can be seated. If you want I can have one of the waiters come back and start making the side orders that are most ordered. You know like the vegetables and things. We all know the most important part is the main dish." 

"Tai, every part of the meal is the important part," Matt said panting slightly. "We'll be grateful for some help though." 

Tai looked at Matt curiously. "Hey man, are you okay? You look like you're having problems. Do you need a break or something?" 

Matt waived him away. "I'll be fine. I just didn't get a chance to eat before work started and well I was too busy to eat at lunch. I'll eat when I get home." 

"You sure man?" Tai looked skeptical. 

"I'll be fine Tai. Now go and get us our helper." Matt glared at Tai until he left, then went right back to working on the preparation for the teriyaki chicken that was almost ready to cook. 

Mimi watched the exchange between the two, before turning back to the stove which conveniently hid her smile.

* * *

Matt wiped down the last of the area around the kitchen before heading out into the dining area of the restaurant. He no longer doubted that Friday's were the busiest day of the week, even after they had gotten the extra hand in the kitchen it had still been difficult to keep up with the incoming orders. He knew he hadn't been moving as fast as he normally would, but now that he was prepared for the workload he would be able to do it again if he needed to. 

It was nearing midnight, an hour later than when he normally got off, but that was due to the fact that on Friday nights The Grill wasn't open until 3 am, so everything had to be cleaned for when the morning shift started. Luckily he had told his mom that it would be a possibility and she hadn't had too much of a problem with it since there was no school on Saturday, just make up exams. 

As he entered the dining area he was surprised to see how many people still remained there. Mr. Tekino was talking with some of the employees while a group of people were waiting near the door. He could spot his brother with a girl with brown hair and pretty eyes, he saw Mimi chatting with the red haired boy he had almost knocked down on the elevator the other day, and Tai was talking with a boy that almost looked like a carbon copy of him and a purple haired boy, with the girl from class hanging off his arm. Matt quietly clocked out, ending his shift and walked quietly towards the door. 

"Hey Matt!" Matt tried not to visibly tense up and turned around to see Tai making his way over to him, with TK and the girl in tow. "Hey, Kari and I were gonna walk TK and Koushiro home, you wanna come with us?" 

Matt thought about it and nodded, "Yeah, I'm kinda tired from today so it would probably be a good idea to walk home with someone else, since the bus stopped running for the night. Thanks." Matt smiled slightly and headed for the door. 

He was the first one out of the door, with the rest of the kids following after him. It appeared the whole group was leaving at the same time. Matt stood outside the door on the outer edge of the group while everyone said their goodbyes for the night. He had to be waiting there, paying attention to nothing for at least five minutes before he heard someone call his name. 

He turned around and about five feet away from him stood a guy that looked to be about his age, though a bit taller with purple hair. He dropped his bags in shock and just stared for about a minute. Then he snapped out of it with a shake of his head and a huge grin. "What the hell are you doing here, Kai?" On impulse he rushed over and gave the other boy a hug. 

Kai laughed as he ruffled Matt's hair. "So excited and it's only been a week? I guess it's a good thing I didn't bring the others." 

Matt and Kai chatted happily away while the group watched in curiosity. Matt was so engrossed with his conversation that he didn't notice the lack of noise behind him. Kai noticed though and grinned cheekily at the crowd. "Hey Matt, is that blonde your brother?" 

Matt turned around quickly, completely forgetting that he was with a group of people. Seeing one of his friends out of the blue even after a week was a shock to his system, especially since he wasn't expecting it. He felt Kai's arms settle around his shoulders. "Yeah, that's my brother Takeru. Hey TK come here," he called out. TK separated himself from the group, but Matt wasn't surprised when Tai, Mimi and Kari came to all with curious and a few slightly distrustful looks on their faces. 

"Don't worry, TK," Matt said when he noticed his brother's hesitant steps, "He's one of my band mates, I promise he won't bite you." Matt paused for a second. "Well he won't bite you hard at least. It really depends on if he likes you." 

"Just little nips really," Kai grinned and removed his arms from around Matt and stepped to the side so he could shake TK's hand. "My name's Kaishi." 

"Hi..."TK said hesitantly, shaking Kai's hand. 

Kai grinned and rolled his eyes. "I won't bite. Hey Matt, introduce me to everyone else. They all know my name, but I don't know theirs." 

"Oh yeah sure, we'll the one with the pink hair is Mimi and she goes to my school and works in the kitchen with me. The boy with the brown hair is Taichi and I'm assuming the girl with the brown hair is Kari, from what I've gathered from the conversation earlier." 

Kai raised an eyebrow at Matt. "Let me guess, you've been here all week and haven't even attempted to make any new friends." 

Matt shrugged with a guilty look on his face. "Don't start." 

Mimi and Kari were eager to talk with Kai, never really meeting anyone quite as interesting as he seemed to be, other than Tai. Tai was strangely quiet, glancing at his watch occasionally. Finally Koushiro came up to them hesitantly. "Hey sorry to interrupt guys, but we're going to miss curfew if we don't leave soon and I would personally like to avoid another few days of restriction." 

That made the group quiet immediately as everyone checked the time on their watches or their cell phones. 

"Yeah," Tai chimed in, "We'll have to walk home fast if we're going to get there on time. Your mom did say 1 am right TK?" 

TK nodded. "Yeah, she told me to be home at 1 am." He looked at Matt. "Did she give you a curfew, Matt?" 

Matt shook his head. "I had to come here right after work. I was planning on grabbing a bite to eat on the way home, but if you have a curfew I better follow it until she gives me one that I can handle." Matt turned to Kai, "Sorry man, but it looks like I gotta go." 

Kai shrugged. "No problem. I was just passing through anyways. My cousin has a gig in a town south of here tomorrow and wanted me to work the sound equipment for her. I just wanted to stop buy and let you know the whole band will be here Sunday. We couldn't get out of the gig next Saturday because my brother already spent all the money on new amps. So we gotta work out a song. You don't work next Saturday do you?" He added as an after thought. 

Matt shook his head, "No, and I don't work tomorrow either before you ask. I might have to clear the gig with my mother though." 

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I thought part of the agreement was that you didn't have to quit the band." 

"Kai, she's already tried to get me to quit my job, and my guitar is staying at Hideki's house 'cause I'm not allowed to have it either. It doesn't really matter though. I'll be there regardless." 

"All right man, I'll call you tomorrow on your cell to let you know where to meet us. We'll come up here sometime on Sunday." He quickly gave Matt a hug and trotted off to a beat up looking van that was parked on the side of the road. 

"Matt?" 

Matt turned to his brother. "Yeah?" 

"You have got very weird friends." 

"So do you," Matt said simply, grabbing his bags and started to walk in the direction of the apartment.

* * *

Matt woke up to soft knocking on his door. He blearily opened his eyes and looked at his clock and saw that it was only 9 am. Groaning he hauled himself out of his bed and opened his door to see TK there fully dressed and apparently very full of energy. "What is it," he asked grumpily. 

"I'm sorry to wake you Matt, but I have something kind of important to ask you," TK said almost bouncing in place. 

"What?" Matt's brain wasn't working on all cylinders, especially since he hadn't eaten at all the day before. 

"Well, Kari and I have a project to work on and her dad won't let us be together without a chaperone. He even calls to check on her on her cell and everything," TK took a breath and gave Matt his brightest smile, "I was wondering if you could watch us while we're here today since mom went to visit a friend and then hang out with us when we want to go out later." 

Matt's brain tried to process the information and it was succeeding, albeit a bit slower than normal. "You need me to baby sit you?" Matt said incredulously after thinking about what TK had said for about 3 minutes. 

"Basically, yeah," TK said. He grimaced, "Kari and Tai's dad is so anal retentive that nothing penetrates his decisions. He's not too bad on Kari, just the whole chaperone thing with me, but the guy can be a real dick." 

Matt thought about it a minute more. The only thing he had planned to do today was finish the song he was writing and wait for Kai's call. "Well I guess. I won't really be around to watch you, but I figure you're old enough to not be spied on. Whenever you leave just let me know though, so I can get ready. Otherwise I'll probably be in my room working." 

TK gave Matt a huge grin. "Thanks bro! You'll have to meet Kari's mom because she'll be dropping her off, but other than that, we won't bother you until we're ready to go out for a late lunch at The Grill." 

"Sure it's not a problem. Well since you woke me up and I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep, do you want me to make you breakfast? I can make enough for Kari to eat too for when she gets here," Matt offered. 

"That'd be great, thanks Matt!" TK ran out into the living room and grabbed the cordless phone to call Kari. 

30 minutes later, Matt was putting the finishing touches on a mixed breakfast. He wasn't sure what TK or Kari liked to eat so he had varied the dishes. Even if there was a lot of food, he was ravenous, especially after cooking it all. There were scrambled eggs, French toast and bacon for an Americanized breakfast, and for a more Japanese style breakfast of miso soup, rice and fried fish. Matt hadn't wanted to look and see if he had the proper equipment for grilling the fish. All in all though, everything smelled wonderfully. 

Just as he was finishing setting the table he heard a knock at the door and turned around in just enough time to see a flash of blonde hair race past the entryway to the kitchen. After he finished moving the food from the counter top and onto the table for easier access, he stood in the entranceway of the kitchen. 

He saw a very young looking mother for someone with a child almost graduated from high school. Matt could tell she couldn't be older than her mid thirties, which meant she had probably gotten married very young. She was very beautiful and Matt could tell where Tai got his eyes and Kari got her looks. Mrs. Yagami was animatedly talking with Kari and TK, and Matt could see the youthful movements in all her gestures. He could tell easily that she would be easy enough to get along with. 

"Breakfast is ready," he said quietly from his spot in the entranceway, gaining everyone's attention. 

The small group walked towards Matt and TK began the introductions. "Matt, this is Kari and Tai's mom, Yuuko." Matt bowed to her and she laughed while Kari and TK smiled. "Yuuko, this is my brother Yamato." 

"Hi Yamato, there is no need to bow. I don't like formality very much when it isn't needed," Yuuko said with a smile holding out her hand to shake Matt's. 

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Yagami," Matt said, still trying to show some respect, even if not formality. 

"Yuuko is fine," Mrs. Yagami said, releasing Matt's hand. "Did you make that breakfast that smells so wonderful?" 

Matt nodded. 

TK jumped in at this point, "Matt's a chef at The Grill so he's used to cooking for a lot of people. There's probably tons of food in there if you want to join us Yuuko." 

"I really can't. Your father has a business meeting in a few hours so I have to go home and get all dressed up and crap," she turned towards Matt. "So you work with my son?" 

Matt nodded. 

Yuuko bit her lip. "Well I better get going. Kari, keep your cell phone on in case your father decides to check up on you. Don't forget to check in around 7 pm if you plan on doing anything tonight and don't get into any trouble." 

Kari smiled. "I know the drill mom. Go have a horrible time at the meeting and if we go out tonight, maybe you can come with us to relax a bit." 

Everyone waited for Mrs. Yagami to leave before sitting down at the breakfast table. 

"So what's the project you're working on," Matt asked, covering his plate with eggs and French toast. 

"It's actually a year long project but we decided to start planning early. Basically we're just going to be brainstorming today. We're supposed to write a play based off of any novel or play we know and put the characters in similar situations in today's world. So we're going to be figuring out which plays or novels to go through and figure out what will work best for us," Kari said. 

"You get a whole school year to do this?" Matt asked. 

"Well yeah," TK said, "The entire project is supposed to be no less than 75 pages long, plus after that we have to have a 10 page essay explaining why we chose to do what we did and how it worked. It's not going to be as easy as a lot of our class thinks it will be." 

"How much of your grade is it worth?" 

"60 percent," Kari said with a grimace, "It's something our English teacher does every year. I remember when Tai was in that class he almost never came out of his bedroom because he was working on it. He had papers scattered everywhere. He had chosen to work on it by himself though instead of with a partner so it was twice as hard for him." 

Matt changed the subject, "So after you guys are done brainstorming, we're going to go out and eat right?" 

TK nodded. "We'll probably be done around 3 or 4 this afternoon and then go eat after that. We'll probably end up getting Tai from soccer practice if that's okay with you. He gets done around six." 

"Yeah sure, it's not a problem," Matt said turning his full attention back to his breakfast. 

After everyone had eaten their fill, Kari and TK said they would clean up the kitchen and Matt excused himself to his room. He lay face down on his bed with his music folder and the song he had been working on the day before and put everything out of his mind but what he was focusing on. It was surprisingly easier for him to be pulled into the realm of words and notes than it had been the day before, but that might have had to do with the fact that he was working on a full stomach. 

About two hours later he was broken out of his writing daze by a hurried knock at this door. Getting up he quickly went to his door to see what the problem was. When he opened the door Kari and TK were standing there and Kari held out her cell phone. "My dad wants to talk to you to make sure I'm being properly chaperoned," she said sarcastically. 

Matt rolled his eyes but took the phone from her, "Hello?" He listened for a moment before his face turned into a grimace. "Sir," he said smoothly, interrupting the other person, "I'm just as old and responsible as your son and believe me I wouldn't want my brother getting into any kind of trouble either. I'll make sure they behave themselves here and if we go out in public. If you would like, I can also give you my cell phone number if it would make you feel safer." 

Matt listened to the phone for another minute before smirking and ending the call. "He'll call back later," he turned to TK, "You're right, definitely anal retentive." 

Kari took back her phone when a thought occurred to her. "Whatever you do Matt, don't tell my dad that you work with Tai. Tai isn't supposed to have a job so that he can keep his grades up, but he decided he wanted one, so pretty much everyone hides it from my dad." 

"Sure," Matt said, "Now if you'll leave me alone I'd like to get back to my work." As his door was being closed he said, "Now don't do anything too naughty in your room TK, and don't think I didn't notice that smudge of lipstick on your neck." 

He shut the door solidly on TK's string of curses. 

He was left in peace until just before 3 pm, when TK knocked on his door and called that they were going to get ready to go out and eat. Putting his folder in his backpack, Matt went about his room getting dressed enough to go outside. Since it wasn't a school day and he didn't have to work he was really looking forward to wearing what he termed his normal clothes. 

After 20 minutes he emerged from his room and went into the living room where Kari and TK were waiting patiently for him. He shrugged off their open mouthed stares and put on his black sneakers. "So food first," he asked nonchalantly, "Or is there somewhere else you want to go first?" 

Matt was wearing a very tight pair of black jeans that left nothing to the imagination. His shirt was what looked like a normal t-shirt, except that it was only mid-drift and was black with silver writing that said, 'Teenage Wolves' on it. For accessories he had a silver chained belt, a small black chocker with silver lining and black and a silver spiked wrist guard on his right wrist. 

TK shook his head to clear it, "Well we were thinking of going to the mall first and we can pick up a snack there. Then we can go get Tai and we can all go out to eat afterwards." 

"Yeah sure, I have to get a new outfit for the gig next week anyways. I'll have to wait until the gig to get my hair done though, since my regular hairdresser doesn't live here. Better get some recommendations from her next time I see her." Matt said opening the door. 

TK and Kari followed Matt out, "Why don't you ever dress like that?" Kari asked TK, who in response shook his head violently. 

"Not a chance. I don't think I could pull off that look quite as well, and I don't want to." 

Kari mock pouted, but there was still a bit of a sparkle in her eye. "Tai's gonna flip when he sees him." 

TK grinned in agreement before adding, "At least the pants weren't leather." 

That signals the end of this chapter. On the next chapter we go out with the kids for the day and eventually meet the band. Also Tai tries stupid things again. See you in a month or two. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Digimon or its characters.

AN: Yes a long time between updates and it will probably be longer still before the next one. It just depends on when inspiration strikes. Also the fact that I'm now working on PoT fics and my Slam Dunk fics at the same time (and PoT is taking priority since people in my every day life craze PoT).

Not much to this chapter, but I hope that you enjoy it anyways. Of course, as usual, completely unbeta'ed. I didn't even give it a proper read through.

Chapter 3:

It had only taken them an hour to do all the shopping they needed to do at the mall, and unfortunately Matt had not been able to find any outfits that were to his liking. With nothing else to really do, he followed TK and Kari to the high school to watch Tai's soccer practice.

They seated themselves on the bottom row of bleachers that were separated from the field by the track running around it. "Where are they?" Matt asked noticing an almost empty field. "I thought practice was supposed to run for another hour or so?"

"They probably took a small break," TK said, "We do it in basketball practice. It's not just about running around with a ball. You have to do weight training and different exercises so that all your body is strong. It helps build up stamina," He grinned, "Or at least that's what my coach always tells us. We're not as well known as the soccer team, so we don't work nearly as hard as they do."

"Yeah I guess that makes sense." Matt shrugged and leaned back against the bleacher seat above him watching the sky.

About 20 minutes later the soccer team came back onto the field and Matt watched the remainder of the practice with disguised interested. He'd never seen an actual sport played on anything other than a television, so it was a new experience for him. He definitely liked watching the boys in their rather short shorts and t-shirts run around with unfettered abandon.

There was one thing he noticed however that he needed clarification on, "I thought Tai was supposed to be one of the best on the soccer team?" he asked, "So why does he seem really slow and clumsy compared to the rest?"

"Oh," Kari said, "Well we got home really late last night and dad made him wake up at 5 am as normal, which was probably a good thing, since he had to work at 6 am today."

"He closed last night and then went back to work so early today? Does he do that every Saturday?"

"Yep," Kari said. "Tai always works on Saturday mornings and then goes to soccer practices in the afternoons. Sometimes he'll go back for a second shift in the evening if our dad isn't home."

"Doesn't he ever sleep?" Matt asked incredulously.

"I don't know how he does it honestly," Kari said, "I know some nights he doesn't sleep at all and some nights he gets a lot of sleep. I don't memorize what he does really, since he locks himself in his room pretty much as soon as he gets home."

"You know that's not normal, right?" Matt asked.

Kari shrugged. "It's not like I can really say anything. He's doing what he thinks is best right now. Everyone's tried talking to him, but it doesn't matter very much in the face of our dad's beliefs. Tai doesn't want to let him down again."

Matt shrugged, letting the conversation drop. It wasn't his responsibility to open other peoples' eyes to something that was obviously wrong and most likely dangerous. Even though he didn't want to say anything more now, he had a feeling that he wouldn't always be able to stay away from making comments. Something about Tai completely drew him in and he knew that he wouldn't be able to resist it forever and he was pretty sure he didn't want to. He wasn't looking for anything long term since he planned to leave as soon as he could, but Tai reminded him a lot like his friends back home and it appealed greatly to him.

He went back to watching the soccer game silently, letting his mind wander to the concert next week. He wasn't sure he was ready to do it; he and the band hadn't practiced together in a week and while that wasn't all too unusual, it was unusual for them to not practice right before a gig. He would have to think of a plan that wouldn't get him in trouble so that he and the band could get together during the week to rehearse at least a few times.

While his mind was going over possible scenarios for the coming week, he didn't notice the practice ending or TK and Kari talking animatedly with Tai, until he felt himself being stared at intensely. Coming out of his reverie he noticed that it was Tai who was staring at him and couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the obvious way he was being checked out.

Sitting up fully he stretched his arms over his head, which made his shirt ride up a bit higher and contained a smirk when he noticed Tai's eyes widen slightly. Feigning innocence he asked, "So are we ready to go out and get something to eat?"

"Sure!" Kari said standing. "I'm hungry since we didn't stop to eat anything at the mall."

"So are we going to The Grill, or what?" Matt asked. "I don't know too many places around here."

"Anywhere but work," Tai interjected, finally taking his eyes off Matt's abs, "After this morning I don't want to see that place until I work again on Monday. I got in trouble for being late to soccer practice again and it took forever to convince the coach not to call my dad."

"So where do you suggest then?" Matt asked.

"We could always go back to the apartment Matt," TK said, "We've got plenty of food and we can always order out instead. We could watch a few movies or something and Kari's dad would have less of a problem with that, then us going out until all hours of the night."

"What about mom?"

TK shrugged. "She won't care. I'll just let her know we're having people over. She won't be back until morning anyway."

Matt shrugged, "Whatever you guys want to do, though I would prefer we not have take out."

"Does that mean you'll cook for us again Matt?" TK asked with a grin on his face.

"Yeah I'll cook, but I'm not promising anything fancy. I'm still waiting on Kai's call," he turned to Tai, "Is that okay with you?"

Tai shrugged, "Sure, it seems I'm the only one who hasn't had your cooking yet."

TK phoned his mom while Kari phoned her parents and let them know what was going on and then they all headed back to Matt and TK's apartment.

As they were passing the park near the apartment building they all suddenly heard a squeal and a girl about their age stopped right in front of Matt. "Oh wow, you're Yamato! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me at first once I saw the shirt, but it really is you!" The girl said excitedly.

"Who're you?" Matt asked in an icy voice.

"Oh you don't know me personally but I'm Hiroshi's cousin. I went with him once to one of your concerts a few years ago when you two were dating."

Everyone in their little group was now staring at Matt with equally shocked expressions. Matt didn't seem to notice the looks or the fact that he had just been outed to his brother and his new friends by some girl he didn't even know.

"Was there something you wanted?" he asked, his expression now completely matching the icy tone of his voice, showing that he did notice.

"Well I heard that the Teenage Wolves were holding their last concert next weekend and I wanted to know if it was true," she said.

Matt shrugged. "I don't live there anymore so it would be too difficult to say whether the group will continue or not, but it is true that we will be having a concert next weekend. If you'll excuse me, we have to be going home now." He started walking, leaving her standing there while everyone hurried to keep up with him.

Once they got back to the apartment they decided on a simple chicken stir fry for dinner. Matt stayed to prepare everything while TK and Kari went to get a few DVD's from the video store. Matt was surprised that they went by themselves since Kari's dad had been pretty insistent about a chaperone being with them at all times, but apparently he had left town on a business trip right after his earlier meeting.

Tai stayed at the apartment, claiming he was too beat to walk down to the video store with them, which Matt figured was probably true since Tai was practically falling asleep with his head on the table.

"Are there any vegetables you don't want in this?" Matt asked while slicing up the chicken.

"Nah, doesn't matter to me," Tai responded, lifting his head off the table, "Do you want any help cutting things up?"

"No, but it would go a bit quicker if you could wash the vegetables for me, if you're not too tired."

Tai stood up and went to the counter where Matt had already laid out the vegetables he was going to use, "No, I think I can manage that. Don't be too surprised though if I crash during the movie. All the caffeine I had to keep going today is starting to wear off."

Matt and Tai continued their small talk for a while until all the good was prepared and Matt was starting to boil water for the rice.

"So are you really gay?" Tai asked Matt while they waited for the water to start boiling.

Matt wasn't surprised the question had finally come up. He was actually surprised that it waited until he got back to the apartment. Mostly he was surprised it was Tai who was asking him first and not TK. "Yeah, I'm gay. I have been since I was old enough to figure out that I didn't like girls very much."

Tai sighed, "How can you be so open about it?"

Matt shrugged. "I've never been someone who hides from people, at least not things I don't care about. Everyone back home knew I was gay and it didn't matter to most of them. I mean sure, there are assholes who think it's sick and wrong, but on the whole I just ignored them. My dad never minded either, so that wasn't really an issue. TK and my mom didn't know but it wasn't important since I hardly ever saw them."

Matt turned and looked Tai in the eye, "You don't have a problem with people being gay, do you?"

"Not at all," Tai quickly responded, "I have a couple close friends who are gay and I am too although very few people actually know that. Only my close friends really know. I think my mom suspects, but she's never said anything."

"So why are you hiding it?" Matt asked, turning the conversation off of him and more towards Tai. It was the perfect way to find out more about him. "I figure you have to be, since you asked me how I could be so open about it."

"Oh well if my dad ever found out I would probably end up dead," Tai grimaced, "Well no, that's not true. I don't think he would kill me, just make my life more of a living hell than he already does." Tai gave a lopsided smile, "Though making my life any harder would probably kill me from overwork."

Matt didn't comment nor did he pry on that comment, he didn't want to push too far too fast. "Well if you're thirsty, we have some soda in the fridge. It might give you a bit of a caffeine boost."

Tai nodded and went to the fridge and grabbed a soda. "So did you write any more on that song you were working on yesterday at lunch?"

Matt nodded. "It won't be ready to use in the concert next weekend, but it's almost finished."

Matt's cell phone rang right then and he hastily answered it after looking at the caller id display on the front. "Hey Kai, so you guys finally decide on what time we're gonna meet tomorrow?" He listened for a few minutes while adding the rice to the boiling water.

"Noon is fine, I should be up by then, but I don't really know any places around here to eat. Hold on a second," he looked at Tai, "Tai, is there a really good All You Can Eat place here?"

Tai thought for a minute, "Yeah there's a good Mongolian restaurant near the University downtown it's not too expensive either," he sat down at the table watching Matt while he went back to the conversation on the phone.

"Tai says there is a good one, but I want to get some work done before you three go stuff your faces," He listened for another moment and tried his best to keep his face from showing any kind of emotion.

"Yeah that one Kai, and no it's nothing like that. Listen, I'm in the middle of making dinner for everyone so you wanna call back or something?" He listened for a minute and then sighed, "Kai just chill. I'll talk to you tomorrow when I'm not up to my elbows in stir fry." He went to hang up the cell phone when Kai suddenly said something loudly and Matt frowned placing the phone back to his ear. "What was that?"

Matt's expression darkened, but his voice remained normal, "They didn't wait long did they? I don't think it's such a good idea to bring him here, but there's really nothing I can do about it can I?" He pulled the phone away from his ear when Kai swore loudly. "Hey chill out, Kai. It was for the best, I'm just surprised your brother went for him so fast. It's not your life and I'm fine with it."

Matt listened for another minute and Tai could see him raise an eyebrow, "You want to what?" he glanced at the stove and noticed that the rice was done and quickly turned it off. "I'll talk to you about it later. I promise I'll call you. I've really got to go though, bye." Matt ended the call quickly and put the cell phone back in his pocket.

"I think TK was right," Matt mused, "I have some fucked up friends." He shook his head ruefully and started heating the oil in the wok for the stir fry.

"So what was that about," Tai asked cautiously.

"Oh Kai's brother Sei wanted to bring my ex with him tomorrow when they came to visit," Matt shrugged, "It'll be annoying as hell but I guess it confirmed the rumors I was always hearing."

"That doesn't seem very considerate," Tai mused, "I mean I'd hate to see one of my friends with my ex." He paused for a moment, "Was it a bad break up?"

Matt shook his head. "Kouji didn't want a long distance relationship and I didn't want to always be wondering what he was up to. He wasn't all that great at keeping his hands to himself since I wouldn't sleep with him."

"That is the weirdest relationship I've ever heard of," Tai said shaking his head.

Matt shrugged, "Well I never caught him with anyone; I just heard the rumors. Besides, I guess they were confirmed. Honestly though, I guess it didn't really mean very much since I'm not horribly hurt by it. By the way, Kai wants to know if you can show us that Mongolian place tomorrow since none of us are familiar with Odaiba."

Tai shrugged, "I have a get together with my friends, but if it's after that it shouldn't be a problem."

"You really don't have to if you don't want to; I have a feeling Kai's just being overprotective of me. He's like a big brother worrying all the time. He probably just wants to make sure I'm making friends here."

"It's not a bother at all. I don't have anything to do after the meeting. Before I go I'll give you my cell so you can give me a call when you guys are ready," Tai gave Matt a semi-shy smile. "I want to be friends with you. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered you so much over the last two days."

Matt laughed lightly as he added the chicken in the stir fry, focusing his mind on his cooking and not the shy smile that Tai had given him. While he was definitely interested, he wasn't sure to what extent if any he wanted for a relationship.

Matt woke up the next morning around 10 am, so that he could get ready to meet his friends. Tai and Kari had been picked up by their mother at 11 pm the night before, after they had watched a couple movies. He and Tai had exchanged numbers so that they would be able to coordinate later in the day after Tai got done with his friends.

After showering and coordinating his outfit for the day, he went and made himself a small breakfast, and watched a bit of television. TK had already left about an hour before he woke up, so he had free reign of the apartment since his mother was still at her friend's house. When he still lived with his dad he would invite friends over to play video games or just watch movies when he was alone, now he had no idea what to do.

Sighing he stood up and glanced at the clock. Since it was only 11 am, he could sit and do nothing for thirty minutes before he had to get ready to leave. However, since he was already bored he figured he might as well get ready and leave a bit early. Since he had already done his hair right after he had gotten out of the shower, all he had left to do was change. Since his outfit was already picked out for the day, it would only take him about five minutes.

After dressing in a pair of emerald green jeans, he put his eyebrow ring in and his navel ring. Since it was warm outside he decided to dress in his white half t-shirt that said in bold emerald green letters on the back, "If you see me getting smaller, I'm leaving." After a moments debate he decided on a simple silver chain to go around his neck. He didn't feel as gothic as he usually did, which was why he had chosen brighter colors.

Making sure he had his ATM card and plenty of cash in his wallet he grabbed his CD player and the song he had been working on earlier (which was almost completed), he put on his shoes and locked up. He figured he would be able to walk slowly enough that he would only be about 15 minutes or so early.

Once he got to the park, he waited underneath a tree near the north parking lot with his headphones on. He had only gotten through a few songs before he saw Kai's van pull into the parking lot and park. He took a couple deep breaths before standing up and going to greet them as they were getting out.

As much as he had denied it to Kaishi and then to Tai, he was not as over Kouji as he let everyone believe. It wasn't that he was still in love with Kouji; it was more than he had wasted almost a year of his life on Kouji and that pissed him off. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to be completely civil and everyone would get the wrong idea.

He smiled warmly and returned the hugs that Kai and Hideki gave him and chatted happily with them for a few moments. After their greetings had been exchanged he calmly asked, "Where's Seiji and Kouji?"

Kai grinned at him. "They're still hiding in the van. I think they're a bit afraid of how you would react."

Matt shrugged, "I told you last night that I don't care. I meant it." He sighed and headed back to his shady spot underneath the tree, "Well whatever, go tell them to hurry up. We have business to get down to."

Hideki grinned and jogged back over to the van and stuck his head in the door. Matt couldn't hear what he said from that distance but less than 30 seconds later both Seiji and Kouji emerged from the van and headed over to the tree as well.

Matt waited for everyone to sit down and took out his notepad. "So, we need to decide which songs we are planning on playing since the concert will last an hour and a half. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should play?"

Kai noticed how Matt was deliberately not looking at Seiji or Kouji, which was probably for the best, since Seiji was sitting on Kouji's lap and not paying as much attention as he usually did.

An hour later their planning session was interrupted when someone yelled Matt's name frantically. Matt glanced around and stood up quickly as he saw TK running as fast as he could in Matt's direction holding a single rollerblade in his hands with a death grip. "TK," he asked quickly as his brother ran up to him and practically hid behind him, "What's wrong and why do you have that rollerblade?"

TK panted frantically and peeked out from behind Matt. "Hide me from him! If he catches me, I'm dead meat!"

Matt's band mates looked at the two in interest, glad for a break from their planning session.

Matt was about to ask TK who he was supposed to hide him from when he saw Taichi run around a corner, soaking wet and completely barefoot and carrying what looked like a water balloon in each hand. "I take it the rollerblade belongs to Tai?" Matt asked. His thoughts weren't completely together, considering the vision that was progressing ever closer to him.

Tai was topless, wet, and wearing baggy, barely-staying-on-his-hips, cargo pants. His wild hair was somewhat covering part of his face and it made him look incredibly sexy.

TK nodded slightly from behind Matt, "Uh huh."

"Care to explain why I should protect you when it belongs to him?" Matt drawled.

"It wasn't my fault! Sora dared him to rollerblade down the roof of the ramada in the middle of the park, and before I knew it Mimi took his rollerblades and gave one each to Daisuke and me and told us to run like hell."

"Does he have a fucking death wish or something?" Matt practically growled his expression darkening as Tai got closer.

"He usually won't do any dares that our group gives him, but he's unusually hyper today. I think he actually got more than a few hours of sleep last night," TK said, still trying to make himself as small a target as possible behind his brother.

"I see those pretty blonde locks hiding behind your brother Takeru! Give me back my damn rollerblade!" Tai yelled as he slowed to a walk and stopped less than three feet away from Matt.

Matt stepped forward, "Tai, I can't let you kill my brother and you sure as hell aren't going to use those water balloons on me." Seeing as Tai had stopped his advance, Matt pushed his brother behind Kai and walked closer to Taichi. He could tell Taichi wasn't happy, but for what reason he wasn't sure. All he knew was that Tai wasn't going to get that rollerblade.

Matt stepped even closer to Tai, so that they were barely a few inches apart. "Come on Tai," Matt coaxed quietly, "I want you to meet my band mates. Do you really want to go out to dinner with us, possibly hurt?"

Tai's eyes narrowed as he looked at Matt and suddenly his expression became less murderous. "Hey Matt, is that an earring in your eyebrow?"

TK an extremely audible sigh of relief and started to slowly edge out from behind Kai. "Oh good, he's been distracted," he murmured.

Tai's eyes moved off of Matt's face and he narrowed his eyes. "I heard that Takeru," he went to move around Matt, when Matt grabbed his arm.

"T.K, give Tai back his rollerblade," Matt instructed, not letting his grip on Tai's arm loosen.

T.K shuffled over to where Tai and Matt were and placed Tai's rollerblade on the ground. "I'll just let you two be, won't I? I think I hear Kari calling me," with that he took off running in the direction he had come in.

"It's not over T.K! I know where you live!" Tai shouted at T.K's retreating back.

Matt let go of Tai once his brother was a safe distance away and quickly took the water balloons out of Tai's hands while he was distracted. "There all better. Come meet my friends, Tai."

Tai turned the rest of the way around and finally took notice of Matt's band mates, "Hi, Kai," Tai waved cheerfully with his free hand.

Matt led Tai over to the group and started making introductions, not realizing that he still had a firm grip on Tai's arm. When he sat down, he dragged Tai with him.

Tai laughed as Matt let go of his arm in a rush once he had realized what he'd done. "I would love to stay for a while Matt, but I need to get going before your brother or Dai tell Mimi that I have one of my rollerblades back."

Tai stood back up. "Call me when you're done or whatever, or just come over to the middle of the park. You can't miss us; we're the group with all the crazy people."

Matt smirked, "Crazy people, with you leading the bunch."

Tai grinned and bounced on his feet. "Of course! Though Daisuke could give me a run for my money." He waved cheerfully, grabbed his rollerblade and his water balloons and started jogging away.

Matt watched him with a hungry expression on his face until he was out of sight, and then turned back to his band mates.

"He seems a lot more talkative than he was the other night," Kai commented noticing Matt's attention was finally back.

Matt shrugged. "He can be pretty hyper sometimes, I guess." He didn't feel like talking about Tai or sharing any information about him. He wanted to keep Tai to himself for a little while longer at least. He was sure Tai would be bombarded with questions later at dinner anyway.

Matt picked up his notebook, "So, let's get back to the task at hand," he said, while Kai groaned out loud. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Once again I don't own the digimon characters. The bandmates I do own, once I figure out if I want to do anything with them.

AN: Oh my teh foofles. You wouldn't believe how fast I got this chapter written. I must have had a demon possessing me because I've never gotten an update out this fast. I didn't even start working on this chapter until last Saturday. Not only did I do this fic, but I'm halfway through another chapter on another fic. Anyways, I hope it meets with everyone's approval. There's a scene in here at the end of the fic that is definitely mature in content and I haven't written anything above kissing in years.

On a side note, please don't expect the next chapter before next month, the next two weeks of my life will be as hectic as usual working on my two other fics and my online HP school.

**Warnings:** This chapter is definitely rated M for mature content. There be graphic scenes below kiddies, so read with caution. There is not actual sex in the story (yet), however this scene was cutting it a little bit close. The muses told me to though, which is a first because I didn't think I had any. So, to make a long story short, **HERE THERE BE LIME.**

Chapter Four:

Matt and Kai walked over to the general area that they thought Tai would be at while the others loaded the van back up.

"So, you like him?" Kai asked quietly, noticing how for the rest of the meeting Matt seemed to have his mind elsewhere.

Matt shrugged. "He's okay I guess. Definitely a bit different than what I'm used to."

"So why don't you go for it? You never know, he might be interested. He seems to be the open minded kind of person," Kai waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, he's certainly the open minded kind of person," Matt said with a small smile, "But I don't want to get involved in anything when I'm not planning on sticking around for too long."

Kai shrugged. "So, who ever said you had to stick around? He looks like a nice piece of ass. You don't have to actually be involved with everyone you sleep with."

"And when was the last time I actually slept with someone, even if I was dating them?" Matt asked turning his head to look at Kai.

"Okay, good point. You've got to get over your past some time, Matt. It doesn't make any sense to dwell over little things like that. So a few comments were made about you years ago, even if they were true, which they weren't, it doesn't mean that your life needs to revolve around them," Kai said logically.

Matt just shrugged. "Drop it. I'm not looking for a quick fuck, or a one night stand. Even if I were, my brother is dating his sister. I'm not gonna screw that up for them either. It's not important."

Kai decided to keep his mouth shut, especially since he had just spotted a large group of people in the center of the park, surrounding a ramada.

Matt had also noticed the rather large crowd. He of course easily managed to spot his brother, due to his blond hair, and he recognized Mimi and Sora. There were some people there who he didn't recognize, but he didn't find that surprising since he didn't know many people.

He noticed that most of them were looking up at the roof of the ramada, so he let his gaze travel up to see what everyone was looking at.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised in the least when he saw Tai on the roof of the ramada doing a handstand. Normally, it wouldn't be so dangerous, but the roof was a slanted roof, not a flat roof. He also realized that since it wasn't but one story high, that it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it could have been. Still, if Tai fell and fell wrong, he would probably bruise himself or break something.

He continued on his way, noticing that Kai had a puzzled expression on his face, but ignored it for now.

Mimi and Kari and a couple of other people were yelling at Tai that he was being stupid and to come down, while others (and Matt had spotted Sora) were egging him on to walk across the roof on his hands, instead of just standing in place.

He stopped next to Mimi, who was so intent on watching Tai that she didn't even notice his presence until he cleared his throat, which seemed to startle her.

"What's Tai doing up there?" He asked, sounding casual.

"Oh Sora dared him to do something stupid again, and Tai being Tai just couldn't back down," Mimi said in exasperation.

Matt nodded, before looking up. Tai looked like he was getting ready to actually listen to the bone heads who were telling him to take the dare farther.

"Hey Tai!" he called out, getting the attention of not just Tai, but everyone else. "It's time to go. Everyone's waiting in the van!"

To the surprise of many people, Matt included, Tai obediently put his feet back down onto the top of the ramada, ending his handstand. Climbing down the side of the ramada he slid down one of the posts until his feet hit the ground. Turning to the crowd he gave them a cheeky grin and a wave. "Sorry people! My other public calls!"

A couple people in the crowd were making rude comments, calling him a chicken and such, and Matt could see Tai getting a bit riled up. So he calmly stepped in (with Kai right behind him) and grabbed Tai's arm pulling him away.

"Matt," Tai hissed, "I can't just leave like this. They're saying shit about me."

"Doesn't matter," Matt said. "You promised you'd come with us for now. Not giving into their stupidity won't damage your ego that badly."

Tai just pouted and allowed himself to be led away, while Kai was getting Tai's stuff from a surprised Mimi.

They got in the van and with Tai giving directions, there was no problem finding the restaurant. They ordered food and talked for a while about nothing in particular. Matt was sitting next to Tai, which he would have avoided had Kai not practically pushed the other boy in his lap.

He was also sitting directly opposite of his ex, which was multiplying his discomfort by ten. So, he was unusually quiet for the course of the meal, choosing to put in a word here or there to show that he was paying attention.

Almost two hours later he was more than ready to call it a day. He liked sitting next to Tai, but he didn't like being forced to. He also didn't appreciate his friend going against his wishes, but that was something he could bring up to him in private at a later time.

Luckily, or unluckily as it might have been, Tai's phone rang, interrupting the conversation. After a minute of listening he stood up and grabbed Matt by the arm pulling him up.

"Sorry guys, we gotta go. My dad got back early and we need to go provide an alibi for the siblings. Any way you can swing us back by Matt's place very, very quickly? Like, speed of light quickly?" Tai looked at the group almost pleadingly, trying not to bounce with his nervous energy.

"Why don't I just go back?" Matt asked looking at Tai, as Kai took the keys from Hideki.

"Can't do that my man, if my dad finds out I'm not studying then I'll be in deep shit. I told you he can be a pain."

"Tai, but you've already finished your work. Your sister says you do it every Friday or something. You can't possibly have anything to study! You get like the best grades in the class."

Tai shrugged. "Hey, I know that. You know that. I think the whole world might know that nothing beats my fantastic skills. However, my father doesn't give a shit. So we gotta go, before I don't see the outside of a closet for a week." He grinned while making that statement, but Matt thought he could see a little pleading in Tai's eyes.

He guessed Kai had picked up on it too, because he left their portion of the bill with the other three and started ushering them out of the restaurant.

They made it back to the apartment in what Matt thought had to be record time, and ran up the stairs. Kai had just let them out of the van, saying that he would call Matt later to finish setting up a brief practice schedule and to finalize plans.

They got inside, and saw Kari and TK pacing around the living room, obviously waiting for them to get there. When they saw them both, they broke out into large grins and collapsed on the couch.

"So, exactly what happened," Tai asked, out of breath even though he hadn't done any running.

"Well, dad called my cell phone out of nowhere. Luckily when he asked where you were we gave Jyou the phone and he pretended to be Matt, saying that you were in the restroom. He said he was going to come to the apartment and if we weren't all here that we'd be in trouble." She looked up at Tai carefully. "He said that you would be in big trouble."

Tai shrugged, "It's not anything new."

Kari grimaced and continued, "So Jyou rushed us here in his car, he even broke the speed limit, and we had already called you. We only got here five minutes ago ourselves."

Tai nodded and took control of the situation. "All right then, TK and Kari, go get some stuff for your project and act like you're working on it, out here please, and Matt, could you go grab your books too? Since I don't have mine, I'll tell my dad that I was helping you get caught up since you're new and in doing so, going over the information again to make sure I know it all."

Matt nodded and went to follow Tai's directions, even though he had no idea what the big deal was, or what was going on. Apparently it was a big deal though, and it wasn't the first time that something like this, or similar to this had happened. He also couldn't shake the image of how upset Kari had looked when she said that Tai would be in big trouble.

Even not being completely aware of the situation, he didn't like the look of dismay that she had held.

So he obediently followed Tai's instructions, bringing out his books as well as his writing notebook. He had already finished his homework, so he sat there working on his writing, while they waited for Tai's father.

They spent about ten tense minutes in silence. TK and Kari were shooting nervous glances at each other and Tai was looking at the door in minute intervals. All this made it impossible for Matt to concentrate on his song, so he put the notebook under the table. He really needed to figure out what was going on soon or he was going to go crazy.

There was a loud knock on the door, which caused them all to jump a bit. TK hurried to answer the door, while everyone else was waiting with an air of expectation.

The first thing that Matt noticed about Tai's dad when he walked in was that Tai didn't look very much like him. Tai's hair was lighter, his skin darker and his general appearance seemed more outgoing. Matt could tell with just one look that Tai's father was a strict person, and even worse, a person who was used to always getting his way.

However, he stood, and was about to make an attempt to be a good host, when Tai's father started quizzing them.

"I called here almost 10 times before I called your cell phone Kari. Why didn't anyone answer?"

Oops. They hadn't thought about that aspect of things. Matt could clearly see everyone getting a little panicky and he thought quickly. "Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Yagami." Matt hurried over to the phone and made a small display of fiddling with it. "I had turned the ringer off on the phone because there were a lot of girls from school who kept calling me and it was distracted us from getting any work accomplished." Matt saw Tai's expression lighten in obvious relief.

Tai's father did not look very convinced, but let the question drop. He started asking Matt a series of question, not all of which Matt answered honestly. He had a feeling that if Tai's father found out about his real hobbies, Tai wouldn't be allowed to hang out with him any more.

After a twenty minute question session and showing Tai's father what they had been studying, he seemed to be appeased. However, he told Kari and Tai to hurry and get ready to leave, because they had things that they needed to take care of at home.

So TK and Matt said goodbye to them and closed the door. The experience on the whole left Matt as confused as ever, but he wasn't quite ready to pry further into the whole situation. That didn't mean that he wouldn't ask eventually, but he would mind his own business, for now.

* * *

The next week passed quickly for Matt. It had been a while since he had a lot of stuff to accomplish and a very short time to do it in. His days were filled with school, work, homework and band related activities. Often he wouldn't get home from work or practice until late, and then head directly to bed. He spent his lunch hour doing as much of his homework as he could, since he was running out of time during the night to do it.

One thing became very apparent to him that week. There was no way he would be able to continue in the band if he was going to be busy like this all the time. He barely managed in six to eight hours of sleep a night, which for him was a crime. He enjoyed sleeping long hours, as they relaxed him. The less sleep he got, the more he felt depressed (even though he wasn't a depressed person, it was just his body's way of telling him to knock it off), and all around moody and full of angst.

That was probably the reason that he didn't really notice anything going on around him until Friday, the day before his concert. Since it was Friday he wouldn't have to do his homework during lunch, so instead of heading to the library like he had been all week, he went to the cafeteria to find Mimi. He had been ignoring her requests for him to eat with them all week, so he decided that since he had time, he should spend it with his new friends.

Their table in the cafeteria was very easy to spot. It seemed to be the liveliest table in there, even though it wasn't the most active. Matt guessed it was because they all just seemed to generate a huge aura of energy and enthusiasm.

He made his way across the cafeteria with the lunch he had packed for himself and sat in the only free chair, which was next to Tai. He answered all the cheerful hellos that came his way, and tried to ignore Mimi's delighted squeal (really there was no other word for it) at him being there and started talking.

In his conversations with Kai over the last week, he had finally admitted that while he didn't want to make connections that were very deep, he still wanted friends and the people that he had met seemed like the kind of people who generally liked other people. They were a happy, outgoing bunch, which was exactly what Matt needed when he had to unwind.

Throughout the lunch hour Matt noticed that Tai was unusually quiet and asked him what was up. He was surprised when Tai looked at him and saw that his eyes were a bit red and held a glassy look. He also noticed that Tai was a bit pale and seemed to lack energy, even though he had a thousand watt smile on his face.

When he voiced his concern, asking Tai if he was sick Tai waved it away. "Nah, it's nothing like that," he said, with a bit of a laugh in his voice. "I just haven't gotten enough sleep this week because of our soccer preparation."

Mimi rolled her eyes and butted into the conversation. "That's bull and you know it. I bet you haven't gotten more than three or four hours of sleep in the last four days."

"Well, three or four hours a night is all right, if you don't do it for too long," Matt said, thinking about it.

Mimi snorted something that Matt noticed that she did whenever she disagreed with someone. "Yeah, I bet it isn't that bad at all. But with Tai I meant three or four hours of sleep total."

Matt looked skeptically at Mimi, not believing her until he saw Tai's eyes widen. As much as Tai had protested after that, Matt had seen that initial reaction, so it added further to his concern that Tai might be getting sick. He also noticed how right after that Tai easily manipulated the conversation away from himself and by the end of the lunch hour it seemed everyone had forgotten what Mimi had said.

During his next class Matt thought back about the week and all the instances he had talked to Tai. The different pictures in his mind of Tai each day seemed to get progressively worse. What upset him was that he hadn't even noticed it since he was so wrapped up in his own little world. Not that it was really any of his business, right?

He shook his head and ignored that last thought. Even if it wasn't his business, he and Tai were starting to become friends and friends checked up on and helped other friends. Matt decided that he would meet Tai at his locker after school and talk to him to find out what was going on. He wouldn't be able to talk with him long, as he had work almost right after school, but even a little bit should be fine.

So after school, Matt hurried to Tai's locker which wasn't located very far from his last class. After about ten minutes of waiting and no Tai, Matt began to wonder where he was. He remembered that Tai went to the youth center Friday's after school, but surely he would drop his books off first.

He waited another five or so minutes and was just getting ready to leave so that he wouldn't be late for work when Mimi passed him. "Hey Mimi," he called out getting her attention, "Do you know where Tai is?"

Mimi smiled, "He probably had to go straight to soccer practice today. He's skipping the youth center because of the game tomorrow. He'll be at work later tonight though. Speaking of which, aren't you going to be late?"

Matt grimaced, "Probably, but I was waiting for Tai because I needed to talk to him."

"Well come with me, Jyou's picking me up to take me to work, so we'll give you a ride."

Matt grinned and adjusted his backpack on his shoulder, "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Matt managed to make it to work on time and now that he and Mimi were more comfortable around each other, it made work less stressful than it had the previous week. This would be the third shift that they had worked together since then and he was learning to trust in Mimi's abilities. She had an excellent sense for flavor and had even helped him improve a few of the dishes.

It was busy once again, being a Friday night, but Matt enjoyed work as much as he normally did. It always made him forget his exhaustion, thoughts, everything. It was just him and the food and the people enjoying it, which he was grateful for.

He was actually so into his work that he had completely forgotten that he wanted to talk to Tai until Mimi reminded him that it was his break time and that he should eat. He smiled politely and declined, saying that he was already too nervous about his performance tomorrow to eat tonight. So since he wasn't going to eat, Mimi told him that he should go talk to Tai instead.

For once Matt actually was bothered by the fact that work made him forget things. It was important to him to talk to Tai and work had made him forget that. He thanked Mimi and went out into the dining area looking for Tai.

He watched Tai bounce around from table to table for a few minutes, smiling, laughing, chatting and radiating energy. Matt was surprised. This Tai looked nothing like the Tai that he had seen at lunch. Maybe he had skipped soccer practice and had taken a nap? Either way, he looked fine from where Matt was standing.

Tai must have noticed him looking at him because he turned around and spotted him and gave him a small wave. Matt waved back at him and made a motioning gesture with his hands, telling Tai that he wanted to speak with him.

Tai nodded his head and went back to taking the order of the couple he was helping and once he was done he practically bounced over to where Matt was standing. "Heya Matt!" he said enthusiastically.

Up close Matt noticed that perhaps Tai wasn't as energetic as he had originally thought. Sure, the red was gone from his eyes, but he was still a bit pale, and if Matt could read his body language correctly, he was shallow on breath. All signs in his mind of someone who needed some sleep. It still didn't explain why he had so much energy though.

"Hey Tai," Matt smiled at him and decided to be as subtle as he could so that it didn't appear as though he was pushing Tai. "I wanted to wish you luck on your game tomorrow. Make sure you get a lot of sleep, okay? Sleep is supposed to improve performance." There, that should have been subtle enough.

Tai laughed loudly and said, "Yeah, I know. It shouldn't be too hard once I come down from this caffeine high. Never drink four espresso's in a row. It definitely wires you."

Well, that explained where all the energy was coming from. Matt opened his mouth to tell Tai something about too much caffeine being bad for you, but was cut off before he could even start.

"Matt, your break's up," he heard the manager call from his office. Matt closed his mouth and let out a small smile. "Well talk to you later," he said with a small wave.

Tai grinned and nodded, "Thanks man. See you after work!"

Matt watched Tai for a moment, who had gone back to bouncing from table to table before he went back into the kitchen.

Matt's shift ran late that night, since Mimi and Jyou had left a bit early. It left all the cleaning to him, which he didn't mind, but he was kind of tired. He figured though, if he hurried through it he could go home and get a good night sleep before he took off for the concert in the morning. He had told his mom that he was going to stay the night at a friend's house, conveniently leaving out the part about the gig.

His stomach rumbled at him, but he chose to ignore it for now. Actually, he would probably do what he normally did before he had a gig and not eat anything until after the show was over. He always felt better going into a concert not eating before hand. It seemed to calm his nerves and made him feel better about being on stage with people looking at him.

He started thinking about the gig tomorrow and got so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that someone else was helping him clean, until he backed up a step and bumped into someone, causing him to drop a soup pan on the floor, spilling what was left of its contents.

He turned around quickly to see who he had bumped in to and was surprised to see Tai there. "What are you still doing here?" he asked, still catching his breath from being scared.

"Well, I said I would see you after work and I kinda figured you might want some help. You can't stay too late either, you have that gig tomorrow, right?" Tai said logically.

Matt's eyes narrowed slightly at Tai. "I'm not the one who hasn't been sleeping. You should be at home sleeping. So shoo."

Tai waved him off, "Nah don't worry about it. Even if I were at home right now, I wouldn't be able to get much sleep. My dad wants me to finish a science project before my game tomorrow, but if I finish it all tonight then I won't get any sleep anyways."

"Wait, science project?" Matt asked in confusion. "The one that isn't due until two weeks from now?"

Tai grinned, "Yep that's the one. So with the game tomorrow I decided it would be best if I didn't go home. Dad probably went to pick me up from the youth club and since I was here working instead of there, I'm probably in trouble anyways. So I just won't go home until after the game tomorrow."

"Wait, won't he come to the game?" Matt asked.

"Not a chance," Tai responded, grinning. "My father doesn't like crowds, especially when I'm in the middle of them. It doesn't give him a chance to exert his authority in any way, and it makes him look bad since I'm the star."

"Well, I guess you can help for a bit then Tai," Matt said. Then he waved a dirty dish towel at him, "But you better not stay too long. You don't want to get sick from lack of sleep."

Tai just laughed at him as his response and went over to the stove to start cleaning it.

They cleaned in a comfortable silence for about 20 minutes, until all that was left was to mop the floor. Matt shooed Tai out of the kitchen and grabbed the mop and quickly did the mopping before cleaning the mop and taking one last look to make sure that everything was cleaned and in its proper place.

Then he went into Mr. Tekino's office, as he was still there for the night and let him know that he was done and that he would see him on Monday, since he had the weekend off. He left the restaurant and made sure the door shut and locked securely behind him, and was surprised to see Tai still there waiting for him.

"What are you still doing here?" Matt asked, exasperated.

"Well you know how I'm kinda staying away from my father until after the game tomorrow?" Tai hedged.

Matt nodded.

"Well, I was wondering if I could stay at your place for the night since I didn't plan any further than not going home," Tai said sheepishly with a worried expression on his face.

Matt felt his stomach do little butterfly flips before ignoring it completely. "Well, I guess you could. I don't think my mom would mind all that much. You'd have to leave pretty early though; Hideki is coming to pick me up by noon tomorrow so we have enough time for a practice before the gig."

Matt could not believe this. Tai staying over at his place, as his guest, with no free room available which meant that they'd probably be sleeping in the same bed. Oh boy was he going to need a cold shower when he got home with all the dirty images running through his head.

"Thanks!" Tai said glomping onto Matt. Matt said nothing, wondering why Tai was acting even stranger than normal, but choosing to ignore it for now. Actually, Tai pretty much was hanging off of him for the entire walk back to his apartment, not that he was complaining. It actually felt very comfortable. He hadn't had anyone's arms around him like that in a while and he hadn't realized how much he missed it.

By the time they had reached the apartment door, Matt didn't want to go inside because first it meant that Tai would definitely let go of him, which was for the best since he didn't want to see his mother's reaction to a boy hanging off of him, secondly because it meant that once they reached his room it would be up to Matt's self control to not come on to Tai. Despite what he had told Kai the previous week, he could definitely use some release and he needed to control that urge if he could. If he did anything with Tai, he would have to continue doing it. He knew that being near Tai like that would probably become somewhat of an addiction for him.

Tai must have noticed his hesitation and to Matt's relief and sadness he let go of Matt. Matt contained the sigh that wanted to escape his lips and silently opened the door stepping inside and leaving it so that Tai could close the door after them.

"Matt, is that you?" his mother called from the living room where she was watching something on the television.

"Yes mom. I have Kari's brother with me, if that's okay," he said, walking into the living room. He wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of alcohol. He hadn't even known there was alcohol in the house until that moment.

His mother nodded and waved her hand. "That's fine. Remember, I have some people I want you to meet tomorrow, so just make sure you're cleaned and ready by 2 pm."

Matt stilled and looked at his mom. "Mom, I've been telling you all week that I would be gone this weekend, and that I was leaving at noon tomorrow."

"This is important. My boss is coming over with one of his daughters. I want you to meet them," his mother said not looking at him. "Surely that's more important than going to see your old friends."

"No, it's not," Matt said looking at her like she was crazy. "I've already made plans, they've existed longer than whatever plans you made for me and I'm keeping my word." He grabbed Tai's hand and stormed into his room locking the door. He could hear his mother yelling at him from the other side of the door, but he just turned on his radio to drown out her voice.

"Well that was interesting," Tai said with his eyes wide. "I've never seen your mom act like that."

Matt shrugged, "She doesn't understand the freedom I had when I lived with my dad and she feels the need to control me to fix whatever brainwashing he did to me while I was living with him." He rolled his eyes, "There's too much she doesn't know about me so her opinion doesn't matter too much."

"Actually, I meant the alcohol," Tai said. He changed the topic, "So I'm taking it she doesn't know about your gig tomorrow?"

Matt shook his head. "No she doesn't. She probably wouldn't have let me go if she knew about it. She doesn't think that boys my age should be playing around with bands and things like that. Like I said though, it doesn't matter. She'll probably calm down soon, or go pass out or something. If you want you can grab something out of the kitchen after that."

"Okay then," Tai said flopping down on Matt's bed and putting his hands behind his head. Matt raised his eyebrow at Tai's antics and sat down at the end of the bed.

"So what do you want to do until then?" Matt asked, resting his back against the wall.

"Dunno," Tai said. "Just chill I guess. Got anything good to read?"

"Not really," Matt said, closing his eyes listening to the music.

"Then will you sing some of the songs you're going to do for your concert tomorrow?" Tai asked seeming to think it was nothing out of the ordinary. "I mean, I can't go and I really want to hear what your songs sound like."

Matt didn't know whether to be flattered or suspicious, but decided to go along with Tai's suggestion. "I won't sing them for you but," he got up from the bed and rummaged around in a box pulling out a CD. He popped it in his portable player and handed it to Tai. "That's pretty much from the last concert, which is gonna be a lot like this one. Feel free to listen to it and tell me what you think." He got back on the bed and watched out of the corner of his eye as Tai put the headphones on and pressed play.

The music that was on his radio in his room was comforting and he found himself closing his eyes and relaxing.

Next thing he knew, there was a weight in his lap, which made him open his eyes. He had relaxed so much that he had fallen asleep sitting up. He glanced down to see Tai's head resting in his lap, with Tai looking at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Wha," his voice cracked so he cleared his throat and tried again. "What time is it?"

"Around 3 am," Tai replied softly, still not moving from his position in Matt's lap.

"Why didn't you wake me when I fell asleep? We still need to get food for you," Matt said feeling his eyes start to close again. He realized that he must be exhausted if he was this relaxed, especially with Tai's head in his lap.

"I already ate. Your mom went to bed about an hour and a half ago. She left some food out for you if you want it." He had heard Matt's stomach rumble a couple of times since he had laid his head down in Matt's lap.

"No, that's okay. I'm not hungry," Matt said fidgeting a little to get a bit more comfortable. He was starting to wake up some and with Tai's head where it was, he was worried about any reactions he might have. "Have you slept yet?" He was becoming uncomfortable because Tai was still staring at him with that thoughtful expression.

"Not yet, I wasn't tired, but I'm starting to get a bit sleepy," Tai confessed, moving so that he was lying next to the wall, leaving plenty of room for Matt to lie down.

"Ah, okay then," Matt said standing up and stretching. He removed his shirt and pants, leaving him in only his boxers. He didn't notice Tai's eyes traveling over his body before he politely looked away. Once he was finished, Matt turned to Tai. "Do you need to brush your teeth or anything? I have a spare brush you can use."

Tai nodded and got up and followed Matt to the bathroom. They took care of brushing their teeth and when they went back to the room Tai quickly removed his pants and shirt a crawled back to the spot on the bed near the wall.

Matt crawled in next to him and pulled the covers over them both, lying on his back since Tai had given him plenty of room. Tai was lying on his side, facing Matt.

"You have a wonderful singing voice Matt," Tai said suddenly, causing Matt to open his eyes, which had closed since he was so tired.

"Thank you," he said. "Did you enjoy the CD then?" He felt Tai move closer to him, so close that he was almost resting his head on Matt's shoulder, causing Matt to draw a quick breath in reflexively.

"I liked it a lot," Tai said. "Did you write all of those songs?"

Matt nodded slightly, "Some are a few years old, but most of those are pretty recent."

"You're a passionate person, aren't you?" Tai said. Matt could feel Tai's eyes on him so he kept his eyes on the ceiling forcing himself not to look at Tai's eyes.

"Most people are passionate about things they enjoy. Singing and cooking make me happy. I guess that boils over into what I do. Aren't you the same? You seem very passionate about soccer."

"Can I kiss you?" Tai asked suddenly, causing Matt to finally move his eyes so that they stared into Tai's in shock.

"What? Why?" Matt said in a nervous voice. "I don't really think we should, we're just friends Tai."

"I've been thinking about kissing you all week," Tai moved so that he was propped up on one arm, leaning slightly over Matt's still form. "Haven't you been thinking about it? I've seen the way you look at me. Wouldn't you like to kiss me too?"

Matt swallowed hard, trying to think of all the reasons that he should tell Tai no, but his brain had stopped functioning it seemed, as he had known it would. Instead, his body reacted for him before his mind told it to, lifting a hand up to cup the back of Tai's head and pull him down towards his mouth. "Yeah, I've thought about it."

Tai needed no other invitation as he pressed his lips against Matt's, softly at first, but quickly increasing in pressure. He moved his body slightly, so that more of it was on Matt's, but still kept most of his weight held with his arms, which were on either side of Matt.

Matt had closed his eyes, telling himself that a small kiss wouldn't hurt them. It would appease their curiosity and make them less tense around each other. In the back of his head he knew that was a lie, but that voice was overpowered the second Tai licked his bottom lip, asking for entrance into his mouth.

He shivered lightly at the contact and opened his mouth, his arms moving so that they went around Tai's neck, pulling him down on top of him.

He sighed in contentment into Tai's mouth as their tongues caressed slowly, gently, as though neither of them were in any hurry. They continued to kiss in that slow manner, and Matt could feel a desperate ache starting to form in the pit of his stomach as he began to want more.

As if of their own will, his hands were caressing Tai's back, touching wherever they could reach, enjoying the smoothness of the other boy's skin.

Tai moved against him slightly, moving himself into a position that allowed him a bit more freedom to touch Matt. While his upper body was still mostly in contact with Matt's his lower body was only on one of Matt's legs, leaving most of Matt's body at his disposal. His hand trailed down the side of Matt's neck, and onto his chest rubbing his index finger over one of Matt's nipples.

That action caused Matt to arch slightly, running his hands harder down Tai's back as he deepened their kiss, changing the pace from slow and gently to wanting and needing. It had been so long since he had kissed someone, and even longer since he had kissed someone he had feelings for. He craved more.

Tai kissed him hard, giving one last swipe of his tongue in Matt's mouth, before he tore his mouth away, latching instead onto the side of Matt's neck, his tongue making slow twirling motions there in time with his hand on Matt's nipple.

Matt shivered again, turning his head to the side in an involuntary reflex, letting Tai have better access for whatever he wanted to do. One of his hands lay as though boneless at his side, while the other had lodged itself on the back of Tai's head, running through his short, thick hair.

Tai moved his way down Matt's body and he took the other nipple into his mouth, giving it the same treatment that his hand was doing to the other one.

Matt was so hard he could barely even think, everything was hazy, as if he couldn't see clearly. Every flick of Tai's tongue made him want to push back against that mouth, wanting something more than the gentleness that he was receiving.

Something in his reactions must have clued Tai into what he wanted, or Tai just had supreme natural instincts, because the next thing he knew Tai's teeth were grazing his nipple, and then sucking hard on it, alternating between the two actions, while pinching the other.

He found himself arching into the mouth, trying to increase the pressure as he bit back a moan and gasped out loud instead.

Tai's mouth continued its work for a few minutes, driving Matt crazy. It was amazing that just that little bit, nothing more than just the brushes of foreplay, could make him lose control this badly. He wasn't sure what to attribute it to, but he could feel himself rapidly spiraling towards total submission to what was taking place.

He felt Tai's mouth leave his nipple and work its way back up his chest and neck. His mouth was already open and ready to receive the bruising kiss that he wanted so badly. His eyes had opened back up, the merest hint of blue showing from between the slits of his eyelids. He knew he looked wanton and needy, and was surprised to see the same passion lurking in Tai's chocolate brown eyes before his lips were claimed once again.

The kiss was hard and needy, teeth clanking together more than once, as they vied for dominance in each other's mouths. The hand that was on his nipple left its perch and traveled down his body brushing against the fabric of his boxers, caressing the top of his groin.

Matt moaned and suddenly broke the kiss, turning his head away from Tai, gasping for needed air. "Stop," he said shakily, his head still turned away from Tai.

Tai's hand stilled on his erection and moved higher, cupping Matt's chin and turning his face so that he was looking at him. "What's wrong, Yamato?" His own eyes were dark with passion, and Matt could see his pulse beating against the side of his neck. Matt wasn't sure he had ever seen anything so gorgeous.

He tried to rip his eyes away, before he lost the very last ounce of restraint he had, but Tai held his chin firmly. Instead he licked his lips, which had suddenly become dry. "I...I just don't think we should. It's more than just a kiss."

Tai's eyes narrowed a little as he studied Matt's face and mannerisms and then his expression cleared and he smiled softly. "It might be more than kissing, but you've thought about more than that. It's okay if you want to stop here, I won't mind too much, but I don't want to stop yet. I want to lick you up and suck you down, Yamato. I've thought about you writhing underneath me, coming hard for days now. Is that what you've thought about?"

Matt felt his mouth go dry, just at the images that Tai's words put in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut completely, ignoring the way that Tai's thumb was brushing across his lower lip. "Stop Tai, it's not about what I have or haven't thought about doing with you," he stopped here because he wasn't sure how to explain his words. He wanted Tai, he could admit to that. He was probably already attached to Tai, which would already make it harder when he left. If he went any further with Tai, he wasn't sure he could stop. He would keep coming back for more, which went against what he believed in.

Tai interrupted his thoughts when he spoke softly. "You want this as much as I want it. You want it to mean something, like I want it to. You're frightened about attachment like I am, but more so. You aren't cheap or quick and you probably make your lovers wait forever to be with you, even though you want nothing more than to be with them. Something probably happened in your past to make you that way. You don't have to be afraid with me Matt."

He stopped talking and looked silently at Matt for a minute, his thumb continuing to stroke Matt's lip. The silence made Matt open his eyes and he could see that Tai was trying to communicate something to him with his eyes, but he just couldn't grasp what the message might be.

Tai gave a small sigh and smiled at Matt again. "I'm not going to keep you here and make you mine, but I'm not going to walk away from you if you want to stay. So what do you want, Matt? Do you want to be happy while you can? Or will you keep denying yourself the things that you want just because you're afraid of the possibility of a little pain in the future?"

Matt's eyes widened, "How did you," he was cut off by Tai who spoke again.

"How did I know?" Tai smiled gently, "Matt, you walk around like a wounded puppy that's trying to act like a pack leader. It's not what's important though. The question is do you want me, right now, tomorrow, next week? Because even if we don't do anything right now, I'll still keep coming back. I have a tendency to get what I want and I really want to be with you. If you want months of dating, that's fine. I'll be happy for just that. You're an intriguing person, with an interesting personality. It shines through your music and let's people see who you really are. I've watched you since the moment I met you and I'm very much attracted to the person I see. So what do you want?"

Matt couldn't think and he didn't want to. He knew deep down what Tai was saying, and even though it was poorly said, he understood it. The question was; what did he want? He wasn't sure he would be able to go further without getting lost, but then he realized that if he got lost, he could always ask for directions. He opened his mouth to tell Tai something, anything. The dull ache of need that had been in his stomach earlier was becoming stronger. It wasn't an ache of lust or want; it was an ache of need and perhaps something more.

Before he could say any words though, Tai leaned closer to him again, and spoke softly into his ear, his breath tickling his skin ever so slightly, "Let me love you, Yamato, even just a little bit."

Matt closed his eyes as he felt the last of his resistance fade. He opened his mouth and his tongue darted out, catching the tip of Tai's thumb which was still caressing his lip, before bending his head slightly and bringing it into his mouth so that he could suck slowly on it.

He felt more than saw Tai move his head and raised his eyes to meet Tai's, not stopping this motion of his tongue around Tai's thumb.

Tai let out a shaky breath and wiggled his thumb enough to let Matt know to let it go. Matt complied with the request, giving the digit one last swirl of his tongue before opening his lips slightly, allowing Tai to remove it.

Tai looked at him in all seriousness and asked him again, "May I kiss you, Yamato?"

This time, there was no hesitation in Matt's response, "Yes please."

Tai's lips descended on his once again and this time there was no hesitation in Matt's responses as his lips parted automatically, his tongue already searching out to meet Tai's.

The kiss was hot, sexual in a way the other kisses hadn't been, perhaps because he had been subconsciously holding back before. Tai's hands went back to his earlier ministrations on Matt's nipple, pinching with just enough pressure to be slightly painful.

Matt gasped into Tai's mouth, as his fingernails dug into Tai's shoulder as he arched into the touch.

Tai went slower than the first time, if that was possible, taking the time to tease Matt's bare skin with alternating pinches and caresses, before his hand moved down Matt's body and cupped around his groin.

"I want to touch you Matt," he said against Matt's lips. "Will you let me touch you?"

Matt responded by pushing upward with his pelvic muscles, rubbing himself against Tai's hand.

That was all the response that Tai needed as he slipped his hand beneath the elastic band of Matt's boxers and gave a long, slow stroke, down Matt's length, making him gasp and shudder a bit.

Tai continued kissing him, alternating the strokes of his hand, sometimes making short strokes with a lot of pressure, sometimes making long, feather light strokes. Every once in a while his hand would travel lower, cupping around Matt's testicles and rolling them slightly. Whenever he did that, Matt couldn't help arching. Tai was driving him crazy with want, but still he wanted more.

He squirmed and pushed at Tai slightly with his hands, to indicate that he needed to stop.

Tai did stop, pulling his hand out of Matt's boxers and looking at him as though he were lost, "What's wrong?"

Matt wriggled his hips a little, "I want these off. I want to touch you too."

Tai's lost expression cleared as soon as the words registered in his brain. He gave a large grin and kissed Matt again quickly before rolling off to the side and removing his boxers. Then he helped Matt remove his own boxers before lying down on his side facing Matt.

Matt rolled on his side too, taking a long look at Tai in all his naked glory. He liked what he saw tremendously. Tai had a wonderful form that was defined perfectly with his muscles. His suntan stopped at the line of where his boxers were, making Matt want to lick the different skin tones to see if they tasted as different as they looked.

He scooted closer to Tai and they trailed their hands down each others bodies slowly almost as if they were both hesitating now that they had reached this point.

When Matt's hand reached his goal, he heard Tai give a shuddering breath and plant a kiss against the top of his forehead. He liked the feel of Tai in his hands. He was hard and hot to the touch, the small ridges felt good against his petite hands and it just seemed so right to be here touching Tai like this.

His first few strokes were hesitant, he hadn't touched anyone like this in years, since before his last boyfriend, but he continued on boldly, hoping that everything would come back to him in time. It helped that Tai had also reached down and was stroking him too, which eased Matt's slight discomfort.

Matt tilted his head up so that his mouth brushed against Tai's, and they kissed long and slow, matching the pace at which they were stroking each other.

From there it got very intense, very quickly. He was panting against Tai's lips trying to keep kissing him as the pace of their strokes increased, but found that he couldn't concentrate long enough to do more than shudder against Tai's body at the feelings running through him.

It was Tai who broke them apart again, almost giving Matt a chance to catch his breath when he said, "I want to taste you Yamato. May I taste you?"

Tai's earlier words came to the front of his mind, 'I want to lick you up and suck you down,' and he couldn't respond back he was so turned on. He managed the barest of nods and Tai pushed him onto his back and kissed him again.

Matt wasn't sure how much longer he could last, the sensations were so intense. However, every time so far he felt he was going to lose himself, to reach his breaking point, Tai had backed off just enough so that he could recover and continue on.

So he wasn't surprised this time when Tai kissed him for a while, or when he concentrated on his nipples. It was a new sensation when Tai gently nipped his way down his stomach, causing Matt's stomach muscles to tighten with every nip. Tai moved down, continuing to nip and lick until he was almost at Matt's erection.

At that point, he moved positions so that he was kneeling between Matt's legs, which had moved of their own accord when Tai had moved.

Matt's eyes locked with Tai's eyes as Tai lowered his head and took the tip of Matt's erection into his mouth. Their eyes remained locked as Tai gave a long, slow lick from the base all the way to the top, before his tongue swirled around the tip and closing his mouth around him.

The sensation caused Matt to gasp and clench his hands into the bed sheets to keep from thrusting up and into that hot warmth.

Tai continued to lick and suck on Matt, taking the time to massage his testicles while he was doing it. Everything was becoming too much for Matt and he closed his eyes in an effort to maintain control for a bit longer. He wanted to feel this for a bit longer before he came. The last sight that met his eyes before they closed was of Tai's mouth around him, while Tai stroked himself with his hands.

Matt was panting now, moaning and trying to maintain control of himself, but not quite succeeding. He knew he was pushing further into Tai's mouth with each involuntary thrust of his hips, but he couldn't help himself because it felt too good.

He could feel himself tightening, and was about to tell Tai to stop because he was going to come, when two of Tai's fingers pressed solidly against and into the tight ring of muscle. Without lubrication, the sensation was an overwhelming mixture of pain and pleasure, and Matt opened his eyes, even as he gave a silent scream of pleasure as he spent himself into Tai's mouth.

Tai removed his fingers and moved back up Matt's body. The thumb of the hand that he had used to stroke himself brushed against Matt's parted lips and Matt could feel the moisture that was left in their wake. Matt knew it was Tai's way of telling him that he had enjoyed himself and that he had come. Looking into Tai's eyes Matt licked his lips where Tai's thumb had been.

Seeing that pink tongue dart out, Tai bent down and kissed Matt slowly, savoring the taste before pulling away. He quickly cleaned up the mess they had made with Matt's boxers, and threw his own off the side of the bed too before pulling the covers up around them both.

Matt settled down next to Tai, with his back to Tai's chest and Tai's arm encircling his waist. No words were needed between the two, as each others breathing lulled them both to sleep.

When Matt woke up in the morning he could tell it was early. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was eight in the morning. Feeling the lack of weight in the bed he wondered where Tai was. They couldn't have fallen asleep before four am, possibly even five am, and yet Tai was not there. Sitting up Matt saw that his boxers were no longer on the floor and that Tai's duffle bag was gone. Not only had Tai left, he couldn't have gotten more than four hours of sleep.

A sudden wave of rejection washed over him, before his eyes spotted a note on his desk. Getting out of the bed, he walked naked across the room and picked up the note.

It looked to be hastily written, but he was easily able to decipher the handwriting.

"I had to go to morning practice.  
You looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn't  
want to wake you. Best of luck with your gig  
today and I'll hopefully see you sometime  
soon. You were wonderful and I can't wait  
to see you again.  
Luv,  
Tai"

Matt smiled a little to himself, glad to know that he hadn't been deserted and that Tai still wanted to see him again. He couldn't believe what he had done in the early hours of the morning, but maybe, just maybe things would work out on their own.

* * *

I just want to say thank you to the few of you who have been reviewing my story. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. So remember all, I love reviews. I enjoy knowing what I did wrong or what I can improve upon.  
Missa 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Nope, still do not own them. If I had, they would have ended up together.

AN: This has actually been done for about a week, but editing it was kicking my butt. Also, I'm not happy with this chapter, but it works for what I want to do, even if the words didn't come the way I wanted them to. Of course, then there was being evil and refusing to upload it.

I would say that it might be close to a month and a half until my next update (at most), but don't hold me to that. I actually already started it, I just have to...do something else first. I started yet another story, but I also took about 4 days off in a row at work next month. Maybe I'll be able to do some writing. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter.

To all those who have reviewed - Thank you very much. It's so nice to see that people are enjoying the story, and it makes me feel as though I'm doing a good job, which gives me the motivation to keep trying. I still do not know how long this story will be, but I'm honestly hoping no more than 15 to 20 chapters.

**Chapter Five**

It had been three weeks and to Matt his relationship with Tai felt like it had been going nowhere. There were a few things about it that were bothering him, things that he wanted to address with the brunette, but for some reason never had the time to. He wasn't sure if it was because of his schedule or the brunette's schedule, but something would need to be done and done fast.

His gig three weeks ago had been a great success, and even though the band was no longer performing concerts together they still met and plotted music. Instead of concerts they would be producing a CD to start, having been offered a small deal by a tiny record label at their last performance.

He had been jubilant about this turn of events, if the CD did well enough then he would be able to move out into his own place from the proceeds made off the CD. Of course, he had known nothing would happen right away, not with his school and work schedule and everyone else being in another city. Things would take time and despite his band's pressure for him to drop out and work on the CD full time, he decided that finishing school, as dreary as it was, was more important.

Going to school also gave him a chance to see Tai. Although he definitely had not seen as much of him as he wanted to. Matt had thought that the night they shared together was the starting point of their relationship. He thought it would mean that there would be hand holding, kissing, little notes and dates. He had been sorely disappointed when he realized that Tai just didn't have time to do some of those things.

The last three weeks had been a series of 'catch me if you can' acts by Tai and admittedly by himself. First and foremost, Tai's time was extremely limited due to being grounded. Matt didn't even get to see him at work anymore, Tai had been forced to quit when his father had demanded that he be at home any time he wasn't at soccer practice, and had even gotten a list of the practice schedule so he could check up on Tai.

This meant that Tai had stopped working at The Grill, since his dad was unaware that he was employed. Matt could already see the stress not having a job was causing Tai, and instead of using that time to sleep and such (which Matt grew more concerned about day by day); he seemed to be brooding and agitated. Matt still didn't know what Tai did during that time at his house, and if his sister knew, she wasn't telling him. He had tried every form of bribery he knew to get the information too.

So things had been at a standstill in their relationship. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Matt knew that Tai wasn't comfortable with going public about their relationship. Sure, he would still kiss and hug Matt, but only when nobody was around. Which in a school environment, wasn't often.

Matt could feel his own frustrations building and decided to confront Tai on a number of things involving their relationship, and things about Tai that had him particularly worried. So he had sent Tai a note during first class that told him to meet on the roof of the school during their lunch hour and to come alone. The last thing he wanted was witnesses when he became a drama queen.

He was currently standing at the railing at the edge of the school roof waiting for Tai. He had brought their lunch from home that day, somewhat of a peace offering to Tai before he brought up all his concerns. While he was dreading the discussion on some level, he also knew that if things were left as they were then things between him and Tai would be over before they even started.

Hearing the door that led to the roof open, he turned around and watched as Tai emerged quietly. Tai was moving slowly, almost as if he sensed that he wasn't going to like the conversation, but still willing to come and see what the blond wanted.

Matt gave Tai a hesitant smile and wave and headed over to where he had set his backpack, pulling out their food.

Tai joined him, sitting across from him instead of beside him and started eating. He was looking anywhere but at Matt, and Matt found that extremely frustrating.

After eating in silence for almost ten minutes, Matt finally decided that he had been patient enough. If he didn't start talking now, then lunch would be over by the time they were able to resolve anything.

Matt took a deep breath and set down his bowl and waited for Tai to look at him. Once he had Tai's attention he got down to business. "Tai, a couple things have been bothering me, about our relationship and well, you."

Tai closed his eyes as if gathering his thoughts and then opened them and looked Matt squarely in the eye, "I knew you weren't happy with the way our relationship is evolving, and I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, I do; it's just that I don't have enough time to devote solely to you and when I am with you I want to be able to give you my undivided attention." Tai shrugged and shifted his gaze off to the side, "I'm sorry, what more can I say?"

"You could say a lot more Tai. We almost slept together – I did things with you I swore I would never do again unless I was in a serious relationship. You slipped past all the guards I had set up for myself and now that you have I'm just supposed to act like nothing happened?" Matt had tried for the most part to keep the hurt out of his voice, instead focusing on his anger at the situation.

Tai wasn't fooled though, he knew that Matt was more upset than angry, but he didn't know what to do to make things better. "I don't want you to act like nothing happened. I still want to be together with you, it's just that I don't know if I can give you all the time and attention that you deserve. Is it really fair to you to ask you to walk me home, which is out of your way? Would it be fair to include you on trips with my family when you couldn't sit there and hold my hand in public like I know you want to? I can't even invite you over to my house because I'm so worried about doing something that would tip off to my father that I wasn't a perfectly straight human being." He looked at Matt pointedly.

Matt countered Tai's argument easily, "You think I would mind taking a whole 20 minutes out of my day to walk you home? You think I have to hold your hand everywhere we go? You think I don't have to will power to stop you from doing something that would tarnish the oh-so perfect image that you present to your family?"

"I don't know," Tai said quietly, "I don't really know who you are. We've only been dating three weeks Matt, and even before that we barely knew each other."

"Then why did you want to sleep with me? Why did you take it as far as you did unless you were willing to get to know me? It has to start somewhere Tai, I'm not just here for you to make out with and fool around with whenever you want," Matt's voice was wavering and he was blinking rapidly. Images of his freshman year floated before his eyes and his voice cracked as he whispered brokenly, "Am I just a piece of ass to you too?"

Tai's eyes widened as he heard what Matt said, and his heartbeat increased dramatically. "I don't think that at all Matt! I never did!" He got up and knelt in front of Matt, putting his hand under Matt's chin, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze. He swallowed hard when he saw the hurt in Matt's eyes, hurt that he had caused because he had been afraid of what other's would think. "You are not a piece of ass Matt, especially to me. I do want to get to know you better and I'm sorry that I pushed so far so fast."

Matt searched Tai's eyes almost as if trying to pull an unidentifiable emotion from them. Not seeing whatever he was looking for he gave a sad smile. "What is it that you want Tai? Do you want a boyfriend or a bud?"

Tai was silent for a moment and Matt could see him giving the question serious thought. Seeing that Tai was actually taking the time to think about it, instead of just saying the first thing that came to mind, eased Matt's worries just a bit. Normally someone would answer right away, but Tai was showing that he really cared since he was taking the time to think about it and answer truthfully.

Finally after what seemed like forever, but was probably only a moment or two Tai responded. "I want you as a boyfriend, Matt." He looked at Matt pleadingly. "I didn't try to sleep with you just because I wanted a piece of ass. I won't lie to you though, part of my interest in you stems from the fact that you are attractive."

"But that's not the only reason, is it?" Matt asked softly, wanting more than anything for the answer to be 'no'. He knew that most relationships started off based on attraction and that alone. While there was nothing wrong with it, that wasn't how he wanted this relationship to be. He had broken his own promise to himself; he had gotten involved when he swore to himself that he wouldn't. He practically slept with Tai when he swore that he would never do that with a person unless he knew they would be staying together. He didn't want something that made him do those things to be only about attraction. If it was, then there wasn't any point to continuing things.

Tai shook his head, "No, it isn't the only thing. I'll admit that when I think about you I get completely turned on just by the thought of us together in bed. But no, it's not just all about that. Sure I think of you beneath me, squirming, calling my name, and yeah, it excites me, but I also think about us just sitting together watching television, or at a movie or out for dinner and it makes me happy too. It's not just about sex, Matt. It's not even close to just being about sex."

"Then why won't you do any of those things with me? I know you don't want anyone to really know. I know that you're hiding us from your family and I understand that, and can even accept it for the most part. But Tai," Matt's voice took on an almost desperate nuance, "Dreaming and thinking about doing things are not like actually doing them. You can say all you want that you have thought about how nice it would be to do those things, but until we do, then how do you really know?"

Tai released Matt's face and sat back on his heels, rocking his feet back and forth. "Look Matt, I promise to try harder to find times when we can be together. That way we can learn more about each other and this won't seem just like me trying to get you in bed, since that isn't what I want this to be about anyway."

Matt nodded, "Fair enough."

Tai grinned and stood up, holding his hand out for Matt to grab. "Now that we've discussed this, what do you want to do?"

Matt took Tai's hand, but didn't release it once he was standing. He wasn't ready yet for this time to be over and now that his major concern was taken care of, he didn't want to ruin things by talking about his other concerns. In answer to Tai's question he just shrugged. Things weren't resolved to the degree he wanted them to be, but at least he had been able to talk about what was bothering him.

Tai pulled Matt over to the railing and looked down at all the groups mingling on the school grounds.

They stood like that for the remainder of lunch, not talking, but holding hands and for now it was enough.

When the bell rang they went their separate ways, promising to meet sometime later, though no time was specified.

* * *

It had been two days since then and while Matt could say that he had seen Tai more than normal, it wasn't necessarily as much as he would have wanted. Needless to say he was surprised when he closed his locker after school to see Tai standing there, waiting for him.

Shouldering his backpack he looked at Tai curiously, "Don't you have to go straight home? There isn't soccer practice today, is there?"

Tai shook his head wildly. He was practically bouncing in place, he seemed so hyper. "Nope, no soccer practice today. I do have a surprise for you though," he said grinning.

Matt raised an eyebrow at Tai's antics. "A surprise, huh? What kind of surprise?" He leaned against his locker looking at Tai expectantly.

Tai reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Matt.

Matt looked at the piece of paper and saw that it was a printed receipt and then looked back at Tai, "You want to go to a movie?" At Tai's nod he continued, "But I thought you were grounded?"

"Not anymore! As of this morning I was officially of grounding, so I went and ordered the tickets online today, so that we could go directly after school."

Matt bit his lip. He had already made plans with Kai for that evening so they could go over some music. Normally he wouldn't have cancelled, but Tai looked so excited.

Tai saw Matt's look and his bouncing slowed. "What's wrong, can you not go today?"

"No, I can go," Matt said, pulling out his cell phone. "I was supposed to be Kai today to go over some music, but I'll reschedule with him. I'm sure he won't mind."

Quickly he called Kai, letting him know the change in plans. Kai teased him a lot, saying that he was love struck, and a total pushover, but was happy to reschedule to another day. By the time Matt ended the call, he was practically dying from embarrassment.

"You know, you always get happy whenever I see you talk with him," Tai said quietly as they walked out of the quickly emptying halls.

"Hmm?" Matt looked puzzled for a moment, before it dawned on him what Tai was possibly implying. "Oh," he started laughing a bit. "Kaishi was one of the only people who stayed with me during my rough times back in my freshman year. He's a great friend, but that's all that we are." Matt made a face, "It'd be way too much like incest if I liked him like that."

Apparently appeased Tai nodded, but to Matt's surprise Tai took his hand as they were walking. Matt could tell that Tai was jealous, even though he had no reason to be. Seeing as Tai was holding his hand, in public at that, Matt decided not to further disabuse the brunette of his thoughts. If Tai being jealous made him more open to showing others their relationship, then Matt could handle a little jealousy.

They made their way to the movie theatre, holding hands the entire way. It made Matt almost giddy, though he was too much of a private person to show such emotion. The movie that they were going to see wasn't something that Matt found particularly interesting; in fact, he would have rather watched almost any other movie that was showing at the theatre. He hated admitting it out loud, but horror movies scared the shit out of him. Of course Tai wasn't aware of that since they barely knew each other, but Matt had a feeling that by the end of the movie there would be no way that he would be able to keep that little fear a secret. Of course, he could definitely play it up to his advantage.

They didn't get very many snacks to take in with them, Matt because he really didn't want to eat anything while watching a scary movie. He had bad experiences in the past while eating and watching a scary movie at the same time. He really didn't want Tai to see him spit half chewed popcorn out of his mouth if he got scared mid bite. He also didn't want to start choking if he happened to get scared while swallowing. He knew these were possibilities because they had happened in the past.

So they got a large soda and went into the movie theatre, and after a brief argument about to sit, they compromised, sitting almost dead center in the movie theatre. Tai had wanted to sit closer to the screen, because he said it would make the movie more authentic and scary. Matt had wanted to sit at the back, so that nobody would be able to see him covering his eyes at the scary parts.

They weren't very far into the movie when Tai realized exactly why Matt had been quiet upon finding out what type of movie he had chosen to see. If the fingernails digging into his hand weren't enough of a clue, then Matt practically having his eyes covered with his other hand the whole time was a dead give away.

He leaned in close, whispering so as not to disturb anyone else in the movie theatre. "Are you really this scared of horror movies?"

Peeking through his fingers at the screen Matt nodded and a slight whimper escaped, as one of the characters headed up a flight of stairs.

"Why didn't you say something earlier then? We could have gone to see something else," Tai said, still facing Matt, but with his eyes trained on the screen.

"Its fine," Matt said, squeezing his eyes shut, "You obviously wanted to see this movie, otherwise you wouldn't have bought the tickets for it."

Tai didn't say anything, easing back into a more comfortable position in his seat. It was true that he had been waiting weeks to see this movie, ever since he had gotten grounded. In the future he would have to make sure to check with Matt if there were things that he didn't want to do. It seemed Matt would do a lot to make him happy, even torture himself with watching a film when it was obvious that he wanted to be anywhere else at that moment.

Finally halfway through the movie Tai gave up trying to watch it. Instead of just murdering the flow of blood from Tai's arm to his hand, Matt was practically hiding his face in Tai's shoulder and shaking. As much as Tai wanted to see the movie, enough was enough.

He silently pulled Matt from the theatre and out into the rapidly darkening sky. It looked as though they had just missed the sunset. He waited for Matt to pull himself together; he just somehow knew that Matt was very good at using masks to hide behind, though obviously not all the time.

Once Matt's shaking had subsided and he was breathing easier he turned and looked at Tai. "We didn't have to leave you know."

Tai shrugged and decided to keep the conversation light, so he did a bit of teasing. "I was losing too much feeling in various parts of my body from excessive glomping. I figured it would be best to get out while the getting was good." He gave Matt a suggestive look, "Not that I minded getting felt up or nothing."

Matt grinned at him, glad that Tai wasn't going to make a big deal out of his pointless fear. "Got it. Feel Tai up more often."

They walked together to the park and sat down on a bench overlooking a small playground.

Matt could feel Tai looking at him, but stubbornly kept his gaze on the children who were playing. As nervous as having Tai's undivided attention made him, he had a feeling he would have a problem keeping his hands (or in this case, lips) to himself if he faced Tai right now.

Tai studied Matt unabashedly, working out exactly how much he knew about the other boy in his mind. Certainly it wasn't a lot, but there were a few important things he had managed to figure out in the last three weeks without openly asking. Most of those things had been realized in the last few days, but he couldn't help but wonder what made the blond so intriguing for him, and once he knew everything if he would still be as fascinated with him then as he was now.

He made a list of the things he knew about Matt starting with the little things and working his way up. In the back of his mind, he had the fleeting thought of keeping a journal and adding to it every time he learned something.

First, he knew that Matt had a strong sense of who he was. He wasn't big on pleasing others or his peers, but went out of his way to please the ones he cared about. That was a great quality to Tai and one that he knew he would have to work on himself. He always felt that he had to please his peers and his father, or else he was doing something wrong. He always tried to stay in the norm, though he did crazy things to make up for it. He felt two faced because he wanted to be one way, but always acted the complete opposite. Whenever he did things outside of the norm, he did them in secret and didn't acknowledge them ever. If he didn't admit it to himself, then there wasn't a problem and he was normal.

Then there were the things that he knew Matt loved. Not only did he love them, he was good at them too, music and cooking. Tai knew that no matter what happened Matt would always have those two skills to fall back on. Tai felt jealous of Matt for that. He didn't really have any great skills he had to fall back on, which is why he always tried three times as hard as anyone else. Well he had soccer, but the fact that soccer wasn't really considered a career had been drilled into his mind so many times that he had started to believe it. It was true though, one injury could end a career in sports, and when that happened, what did that athlete have to fall back on? Nothing. They usually became a burden on the ones they loved.

Matt was apparently terrified of scary movies. That intrigued Tai since he had never met someone who was more scared of horror movies than Matt. Not even being able to sit through a tame horror movie like the one they had seen was unheard of. He would have to find out one day why Matt was so scared of them. There were a lot of other little things; Matt enjoyed attention, Matt wasn't as confident as he always appeared to be, Matt always did his homework, Matt hated his mother, Matt was totally hot naked.

Then there was the big mystery that Tai needed to uncover. He remembered the look in Matt's eyes when Matt had asked him on the roof that day if all he was to him was a piece of ass. Obviously something had happened to Matt at one point in time if he felt like that. It could have been something small and insignificant, or something huge and mind blowing. The problem was that Tai wasn't sure how to get the information from the blond, and he honestly wasn't close enough emotionally to Matt to dig it out of him. Whatever it was, it made Matt almost prudish at times, made him feel like he was only an object, and brought down his self esteem about ten notches.

Perhaps a notebook wasn't such a bad idea after all. It wasn't like anyone would see it, and it would help him puzzle out Matt a little better so that he could try and please Matt the same way he could tell Matt was trying to please him. He knew, despite his efforts, that Matt was being extremely patient with him, almost as if he sensed that if he pushed too far too fast then things would crumble. Tai was almost wishing that Matt would rock the boat, just to see if it was the one push that Tai needed to get his ass in gear.

Abruptly he asked, "What's your favorite color?"

Matt turned to look at Tai, surprised to see just how intense his eyes were for such an insignificant question. Automatically he responded, "Dark green."

"What's your favorite food?" Tai asked his eyes still intense.

"Um, I don't really know. I guess salad." Matt saw Tai make a face at that admission. "What?" he said defensively, "It's healthy and it isn't fattening."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Matt, I don't think you have to worry about being fat. You're practically a twig anyways." He poked Matt softly in the side, "You could stand to gain a few pounds actually."

It was Matt's turn to make a face at Tai's suggestion. "No thank you, I could stand to lose a few more pounds. Didn't you know that your looks are half of what makes you famous?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "Being in a band, performing on stage and off of the stage, you are always scrutinized. Someone somewhere is always watching you, how you look and how you act."

Tai shrugged. "It still doesn't change my opinion though. So, who is your favorite band?"

"I don't know," Matt said honestly. "My favorite band changes to match my mood, so does what type of music I listen to. What's with all the questions?"

"Well you said we barely knew anything about each other. So I was trying to correct that a little. Don't you want to know what my favorites are too?"

Matt got a mischievous look on his face. "Let me guess first and then you can tell me if I'm right."

Tai agreed with an amused noise and moved to sit behind Matt, so that Matt could lean against him.

Matt leaned backwards, looking up at the now dark sky. He could just barely see the stars in the city, but it was still relaxing. "You strike me as a yellow person, but not. My guess it that your favorite color is gold." He felt Tai tense a little and then relax. "I'm right, aren't I?"

He felt Tai nod his head, since the top of his chin was resting on the top of Matt's head. "Okay, one point for me. I bet your favorite food is pizza, simply because it's not healthy." He felt another nod. Now he was onto guessing territory because Tai was such a contradiction that there were so many possibilities as to which band he liked. "You're a Green Day fan?" he guessed.

Tai shook his head giving a negative response and Matt sighed. "So what bands do you like?"

"I'm like you on the bands. I like a lot of different ones, but I wouldn't be able to choose. Green Day is okay, but I also enjoy listening to hard rock and the like. I rarely listen to music though, since I'm not allowed to turn the radio on at my house."

The conversation died down, both of them just relaxing with each other. Matt found it incredibly enjoyable, having Tai's arms wrapped around him, not worried that Tai would tense or pull away. It was dark enough that no one would be able to tell who they were unless they got up close and personal. It also made him feel wanted and secure.

They stayed like that for quite a while, until Tai reluctantly told Matt that he needed to get home and start studying before his father got angry at him again for slacking off. Matt agreed, knowing that he needed to get his own school work done. They parted ways at the park, agreeing to meet at Matt's apartment the next morning before school so that they could walk together.

* * *

It was that Saturday, when Matt was over at Tai's house with his brother that he got his first real glance at Tai's home life. He honestly couldn't fathom how his boyfriend put up with his father and all his expectations. Maybe his own family had been too lax, and this was something that was standard, but Matt was disgusted.

The moment they had arrived Tai had gone to the phone and pulled a list out of seemingly nowhere. The list looked small, but as soon as Matt got a look at how tiny the handwriting was he winced. Sure, it was only a small piece of paper, but it looked to have about 15 different tasks listed, with timetables and everything.

"What's that?" Matt asked, peering over Tai's shoulder.

"My dad's lovely list of suggestions. Basically, the list of things he wants me to accomplish today. He must have left it when I was picking you and TK up." Tai rolled his eyes before scanning the list. "He must have been in a good mood, there's less on here than normal and most of them I've already gotten done." He grinned at Matt, "That means more free time for us."

Matt looked at Tai in bewilderment after reading through the list. "Wait Tai, this is weird. Some of the things on this list are schoolwork that isn't due for a few weeks! Your father wants you to do them today?"

Tai shrugged as if the answer was obvious. "I always have to have my homework completed ahead of time. It builds character and leaves me more time to study for tests."

Matt made a face of disgust, clearly showing what he thought of that response. "Well, whatever. So what do you want to really do?"

Tai stuck the list in his pocket, deciding that today he would dedicate to just spending time with Matt. "Do you like video games?"

Matt grinned. "What teenage boy doesn't like video games?"

"Good point," Tai said, matching Matt's grin. "You wanna play here, or go to the arcade?" He gave Matt a quick list of games that he had.

"Let's play here. Maybe we can watch some movies when we're done," Matt said, his grin fading into a shy smile.

"Deal," Tai said, his grin growing even wider if possible. "I promise to not put on too many scary movies."

Matt stuck his tongue out at Tai and they went to his room to begin their day of vegging.

Surprisingly they were left alone pretty much the whole day, Tai's mom was keeping an eye on Kari and TK, while his dad was busy with a large amount of paperwork. Dinner was strained and quiet in Matt's opinion, though not too terribly different than a dinner at his house. He missed dinners with his friends and his dad, where there was always more talking and laughing than eating.

After dinner TK went home and Tai and Matt made some excuses about schoolwork that Tai's father seemed to buy. This meant that Matt got to stay the night, something that apparently rarely happened at Tai's house.

Seeing as how they had not been bothered all day while they were playing video games, they decided to be a little more daring while watching the movies. They chose three movies to watch, one action, one romantic comedy and Matt agreed to watch an older scary movie that he had seen before, saying that it usually wasn't as bad watching it the second time around. However, they agreed to watch the scary movie first, and the others after, so that it wasn't the last thing they watched before going to bed.

In truth, Matt barely watched the screen during the scary movie, instead focusing his attention on how absolutely comfortable he felt being wrapped in Tai's arms. It was actually a bit of a turn on for him, which was a surprise. With all of his past boyfriends, he wasn't big on the cuddling, not enjoying being pampered. With Tai though, it was different. Perhaps it was because it wasn't something that Tai did often and that made Matt want it more. Or then again, it could just be because Matt was completely crazy about Tai. In any case, cuddling was quickly becoming his favorite pastime.

He stifled a sigh as Tai got up to change the DVD. He had been so comfortable and for the first time had wanted a scary movie to last longer. He was surprised that Tai chose to put the action film in second, instead of the comedy, but he didn't say anything. Truth be told, he wasn't a huge fan of action movies, the explosions and special effects hurt his eyes when he was in a dark room. He was happy that when Tai got back onto the bed, he immediately pulled him back into his arms, nuzzling the back of Matt's head with his nose.

Matt relaxed and got comfortable almost instantaneously, wriggling backwards so that there was no space between him and Tai. He watched the movie and surprisingly found it pretty good. It had a plot at least, and so far there hadn't been too many bright flashes coming from the screen.

They were about halfway through the movie when he noticed Tai kissing the back of his neck, just below his hairline. Giving a content sigh he smiled and squeezed Tai's hand, letting him know that he was enjoying the attention.

When Tai rolled him over onto his back, he allowed it to happen, not putting up any resistance. He looked up at Tai, who had a weird expression on his face, like he was trying to figure something out, but the answer wasn't coming to him.

Just when Matt was about to ask him what was wrong, Tai's expression cleared and he leaned down and gave Matt a soft kiss on the lips.

Matt returned the kiss back, just as softly and wrapped his arms around Tai's neck, pulling him closer.

They stayed like that, softly kissing, occasionally deepening their kisses, before moving back to the soft, almost experimental, kissing. Neither one of them were paying attention to the movie any longer, instead just focusing on each other. It wasn't nearly as heated a display as they had the last time they were alone in a room in the dark, but it felt nearly as good as the last time.

This time it was just gentleness coming from both of them. It was a soft exploration, not rushing anything, keeping it simple, yet sweet. To Matt, it was perfect.

Well after the movie had ended, they finally broke up the make out session, both breathing surprisingly heavily, for how slow they had been going.

Matt smiled up at Tai. "What was that for?" he asked softly, enjoying the way Tai's eyes had darkened with suppressed passion.

Tai traced a finger of Matt's lip and shook his head softly. "That wasn't for anything, I just felt like doing it." He smiled down at Matt, "You know the other day when I said I also thought about us just watching movies, enjoying each other's company?"

Matt nodded, waiting to see where the conversation was going.

"It's even better than I dreamed," Tai said grinning, before he kissed Matt softly again.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, which shocked them. Tai quickly got off of the bed and went over and unlocked the door, to reveal his mother standing there.

"It's time to turn off the television, Tai," she said. In her arms were a spare futon mattress and some blankets. "Go ahead and set these up and get ready for bed."

Smiling he took them from his mom and arranged them on the floor next to his bed while his mother closed the door. Matt couldn't help but pout a little. He wanted to sleep in Tai's arms, since he wouldn't be able to be as close to the brunette the following week because of school.

Seeing the look on Matt's faced Tai stopped what he was doing and gave Matt a quick kiss. "Don't worry, I plan on having you sleep right where you belong," he grinned and winked at Matt.

"And where do I belong?" Matt asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.

"In my arms," was Tai's simple response, as he stood up and turned on the table lamp beside his bed.

Matt watched Tai get ready to sleep for the night, not at all surprised when Tai changed into just a pair of boxers. He himself hadn't brought any clothes to sleep in, since it had been planned at the last minute, but he borrowed a pair of Tai's sweatpants, which were surprisingly loose on him. Tai locked the door and turned off the light before getting into bed and pulling Matt into his arms.

Matt was surprised at how tired he felt. With the television off he no longer had a distraction to stay awake. It was surprising how the pace of Tai's breathing was almost like a lullaby, because he was asleep before his mind could even form the thought to tell Tai what a good time he had that day.

He woke up a couple of hours later because he felt Tai get up. Blearily he opened one eye and made a questioning noise. Tai kissed his forehead and whispered that he would be back, that he just needed to use the bathroom. Appeased, Matt rolled over and pulled more of the covers onto him to regain some of the lost warmth that left when Tai had gotten up. Snuggling into the blankets he fell back asleep.

After a few more hours of fitful sleep he woke up once again, noticing how nothing had changed in the room. Sitting up he glanced around trying to find out where Tai was. The sky was lightening, which provided him with just enough light to see that Tai wasn't in the room. He could tell that Tai hadn't gotten back in to bed, as the spot next to him was cold. Glancing around, he saw that Tai wasn't in the room either. He did however see all of Tai's schoolbooks scattered across the floor of the room and that Tai's door was ajar.

Quietly getting out of the bed, he went as silently down the hall as possible looking for any sign up Tai. No normal teenager would be up this early in the morning on a Sunday, but then again he already knew that Tai wasn't normal.

His eyes widened when he peeked around the corner of the hallway and saw Tai and his father at the dining room table, going over the list he had seen the other day. Tai's father was checking the list and when he came to each item on the list, he saw Tai present each assignment to his father. To Matt's astonishment he realized that Tai must have been working on his schoolwork after he had fallen asleep the second time, not coming back to the bed like he had promised.

He was just about to turn around and head back into the room, now upset at realizing that Tai had lied to him, when he heard Tai's father raise his voice.

"That is not what happened in that chapter of Lord of the Flies, Taichi. You're lying to me, aren't you? You didn't read it did you?"

Matt couldn't hear what Tai's response was because it was too low, but there was no mistaking that whatever it was, did not fly well with his father.

"Leaving the book at school shows irresponsibility, Taichi. You know that you must be on top of things at all times. Having a lapse in memory is no excuse for not doing the things that I have set before you. I don't want this to become a repeat of what happened before your last soccer game. You will find a friend to borrow the book off of and I expect you to be read up to the chapter that I listed before the end of the day."

This time Matt could hear Tai as he responded to his father, "I'm already three chapters ahead of the rest of the class, father. You said that I would be able to do what I wanted to today."

Matt heard more than saw the dull thud of one of Tai's textbooks hitting Tai in the head. His eyes widened slightly before narrowing. True, the textbook hadn't been thrown hard, and it couldn't have hurt at all, but that wasn't the point of the matter.

"You will do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it, Taichi. How many times do I have to explain to you that if you slack off now, you'll never make it anywhere in life? You're completely worthless as you are now, don't you realize that? The only way you will become anything is by staying ahead of the others and making the best of the time given to you by studying," Tai's father said harshly.

Matt heard Tai making a noise of agreement and quietly seethed as he crept back down the hall into Tai's room. It was no wonder to him now why Tai had broken his word and stayed up instead of going back to bed. Matt had a feeling that if he hadn't then Tai would have been in a lot more trouble than a mere tap and harshly spoken words. Once again Matt wondered if most families were like Tai's and if he were the abnormal one, but quickly dismissed the thought just like he had done on previous occasions. There was nothing normal about Tai's father.

Instead of heading directly to the bedroom, he went into the bathroom to give himself some time to calm down. It wasn't really his place to confront the situation, Tai did seem to have it under control, and Tai's father hadn't done anything that truly warranted him getting involved. It didn't mean that he wasn't angry at Tai's father for being such an ass because he was angry. It didn't mean that he wasn't upset with Tai for not standing up for himself, because he was. Seeing that encounter had raised alarms in his head, and he knew that he would be paying closer attention to Tai. It also explained why Tai seemed to sleep so little, he probably had to work late into each night to get whatever his father set for him done. It wouldn't have been so bad if studying was the only thing that Tai concentrated on, but it wasn't. Tai still had soccer, the youth center, and various club functions that he had to attend.

Matt washed his face and left the bathroom, intent on getting Tai to sleep for a few more hours. Not getting more than two hours of sleep couldn't possibly be good for a person, especially since Matt had a feeling that it was a normal occurrence for the brunette.

As he walked into Tai's room he saw him poor what looked to be quite a few pills into his hand and swallow them. Eyes wide, he couldn't stop the words that came out of his mouth like an accusation.

"What the hell are those?"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Never gonna own them anyways.

AN: This was hell to write. Absolute hell. Sorry for the abrupt ending at the end of the chapter, but meh. Writing speed should pick up as I decided that while I really enjoyed my new job, I enjoy writing and having 'me' time more. So's I chucked the job out the window and went back to my old one. Most likely this won't be updated until I get the next chapter of my KH fic out, and possibly another fiction that I'm working on.

As usual, thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews. I really do appreciate the time and effort you put in for reviewing and as always, it gives me lovely little fluffies of happines. XD

**Chapter Six**

"What the hell are those?"

Tai turned swiftly, to look at Matt and then at the bed, and then at Matt again in shock. "Huh?" he asked looking at Matt in confusion. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Matt's expression darkened at his question being avoided. "I had to go to the bathroom." He gestured at the bottle that was still in Tai's hand. "What are those?" he asked again, closing Tai's door behind him as he completely entered the room.

Tai's eyes narrowed at the tone in Matt's voice. "They're just headache pills, Matt," the brunette said, tossing the bottle in the general direction of the blond.

Matt caught the bottle and looked at it, noticing that it was prescription migraine pills. Not being able to help himself he glanced down to make sure that Tai's name was written on there. To his relief and embarrassment it was. Still though, it didn't account for Tai taking so many of the pills. The bottle said two, not five, not six, or however many Tai had just popped into his mouth.

He looked at Tai, who was regarding his coolly. "Sorry," he said in apology walking over to Tai and handing back the bottle.

Tai's expression cleared quickly as he put the bottle back on his dresser, "Don't sweat it," he said cheerfully, before turning around and pulling Matt into a hug.

Matt let himself revel in the feel of being in Tai's arms for a moment, before saying, "You should follow the prescription, Tai. Taking that many at once isn't healthy."

Tai stiffened momentarily, but then relaxed again. "Sorry, sometimes I just don't realize how many I take. Besides, I only had four. I know what my body can handle."

Matt didn't say anything, he was pretty sure there had been more pills, but it could have just been his mind playing tricks on him. Pulling back he kissed Tai quickly on the lips and asked, "Are you going to come back to bed for a couple hours?" He decided that right then it wouldn't make things any better if he asked Tai about what was going on between him and his father.

"Yeah, I think we could do that," Tai said with a suggestive grin on his face.

Matt raised an eyebrow at the look but didn't comment, before stepping out of Tai's embrace and walking back towards the bed. He tried not to get self conscious as he heard Tai lock his bedroom door. It hadn't seemed like such a huge deal the night before when Tai had locked it, but now, knowing that Tai's father was awake and after witnessing the display between Tai and his father, frankly speaking it made Matt nervous.

However, he tried his best not to show his nervousness, and smiled at Tai when he joined him under the covers in the bed.

Once Tai was under the covers completely, Matt snuggled back against him and closed his eyes, hoping that perhaps Tai would just go back to sleep.

Within minutes of Tai's arms wrapping around his middle, he started to doze off. He was warm, he was comfortable and it was very nice. It was definitely something he could let himself get used to.

Tai listened as Matt's breathing evened out and hugged the blond closer for a moment, breathing in the scent of his skin, before he reluctantly loosened his grip. He waited a few more moments until he was sure that Matt had fallen back asleep before slipping out of the bed. As much as he enjoyed holding Matt, the things that he had to do that day wouldn't wait for him.

As he gathered up his bath things he could feel his headache just as strong as before he had taken the pills, his body ached with exhaustion, and yet he knew, he knew that if he didn't push through it, nothing would ever change. He'd never change. He would be just as pathetic as his father said. He would have to find a new balance. He would have to find a way to make everything work out. He was sure he could do it; he only had a little more than half a year to go. After that, he would be able to finally stop.

He set out his clothes for the day, grabbed a different pill bottle, made sure that he had his comb and gel, and headed out the door quietly. There was no way he could let himself go back to sleep at this point, it would defeat the purpose of his existence.

Matt had woken up the moment he had felt Tai leave the bed and when he heard Tai leave the room he let out a frustrated breath. He knew that if he had asked, Tai would have stayed, even if he hadn't wanted to. That's why he had feigned sleep. How could he ask Tai to do anything when he was too chicken shit to confront Tai about all the things he kept learning. Who was he to question Tai's routine after only knowing him for such a short period of time? He needed answers, but he didn't know if he wanted to hear them. He needed someone to help him put things into perspective.

Crawling out of the bed, he turned to the only source he knew would help him. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Kai's number.

He already knew what Kai was going to tell him to do, what his logic would be, but Matt was one of those people who even though he knew the answers to his own questions, needed someone else to tell him what to do. It was one of his most fatal flaws, but one that he hadn't managed to break himself of, yet.

He waited patiently, listening to the ringing in his cell phone. He knew Kai wouldn't be happy; being woken up just after dawn wasn't one of Kai's strong points. Of course, there was always the chance that Kai had stayed up all night partying, but Matt doubted that.

Eventually, a cranky voice answered, "Why the fuck are you calling me so early, Matt?"

Yep, Matt could feel the wince he had on his face. "Well you're awake enough to check the caller ID at least," he said, in what he hoped was a joking voice.

"No," Kai said sleepily, "You're just the only person crazy enough to call me this damn early." Shuffling noises could be heard for a moment, "So what's wrong?"

"How do you know anything is wrong?" Matt asked; bewildered as to how Kai could have figured it out so quickly.

"It's not that difficult to figure out, Matt. The only reason you'd call me this early in the morning was if something was bothering you. So just spit it out already," Kaishi said a bit impatiently.

So that's exactly what Matt did. He told Kai everything that he had seen that morning, all the questions that he had lingering in the back of his mind and all of his fears. He knew that if anyone would be able to tell him to stop being such a baby it would be Kai. Kai never did sugar coat things very well.

After he finished he waited quietly for Kai to digest all the information and to make his verdict.

"Why the fuck did you wake me up for this, Matt?" Kai said, disgruntled.

"What?" Matt asked in surprise, "What do you mean, Kai? You're supposed to tell me what to do."

"Why the hell do I?" Kai said, "You already know what you want to do and what you need to do. You're a big boy Matt, grow a backbone."

Matt opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. He couldn't for the life of him fathom why Kai was acting this way. "Why won't you just tell me," he finally managed to force out.

"No," Kai said stubbornly. "I won't tell you what to do, but I will ask you this, do you love him?"

Matt's brain stopped functioning. "What?"

"Do you love him," Kai said slowly as if he were talking to a five year old.

"I've only known him for..." he was cut off by Kai talking over him.

"Don't give me excuses Matt," Kai said impatiently. "It doesn't matter how long you've known him, or how well you know him, all that matters is if you love him."

Matt blinked wondering briefly who he was talking to and what the hell they had done with Kai. "I never pegged you for a romantic," he said doubtfully.

"I'm hanging up now, Matt. Call me sometime later, preferably when the sun has been up for hours, not minutes."

Matt didn't even get to say bye before he heard silence from his cell phone. He looked at his cell phone as though it was the source of all the problems in the world. "Well that didn't help very much," he said with a scowl.

He was still sitting there, scowling at his phone when Tai walked back into the room, toweling his wet hair.

Tai froze when he saw Matt was awake. He had planned on at least being back in the room before the blond had woken up.

Matt looked up from his phone and his breath caught in his throat. A wet Tai, wearing only a towel about his waist was definitely a delicious thing to behold. Well hello yummy muscles. His eyes widened and if he were inclined to drooling, he most likely would have started that. For now though, he would be content to just stare in gratitude while devising lovely images for later use.

Tai noted the look on Matt's face and felt his heart skip a beat. He felt like he was being devoured just by Matt's eyes. It was the first time that Matt had such an expression on his face when looking at Tai. Tai knew that he often beheld that expression when he saw Matt in certain situations, but this was a first for him. He hadn't known that Matt could pull of the "I'm molesting you with my eyes", look so well. Tai decided that he liked it, a lot.

He smirked and rained an eyebrow. "Like what you see?" he asked trying to, and failing, to mask the amusement in his voice.

Matt snapped his eyes away from Tai's abdomen, and up to his face. He knew without a doubt that he had to be blushing. It always embarrassed him when he got caught staring.

Tai laughed at Matt's expression and decided that Matt really was too adorable to not have to molest, just a little. His smirk widened into a grin as he made a show of locking the door and removing his towel.

Matt watched wide-eyed and licked his suddenly dry lips. Part of his mind was telling him that this was a really bad idea. But it was easily over-ruled by the far more imaginative portion of his mind. Dear lord Tai had a hot body.

Tai watched Matt seemingly zone out again, and shook his head in amusement. He knew now that no matter what kind of excuses or pleas that Matt gave him, he wanted Tai's body very much. He kept his gaze on Matt's widening eyes as he stalked naked over to where match was sitting, trying to not let the lustful look Matt was giving him turn him on too much. Of course, he was failing miserably.

He was going to stop just outside Matt's reach to tease him, but he saw Matt shift uncomfortably. Tai took a good look at Matt's slightly flushed face, parted lips. He let his gaze travel down to confirm his suspicions, and was rewarded with seeing a decent sized bulge in Matt's sweatpants. Once again telling himself that it was entirely not his fault, he pounced.

Normally one would think that the one who was watching the other person so hungrily would have been the one to make the move. In this case however, they would have under estimated Matt's self control, and over estimated Tai's patience. Needless to say, Matt hadn't known what hit him.

Matt's head hit the wall hard enough so that he could see stars on the inside of his eyelids as Tai jumped onto him and pushed him haphazardly down onto the bed.

Matt didn't even have time to cry out in pain before a warm tongued had invaded his mouth. He tried to turn his head away, to catch his bearings, but Tai's hand under his chin held him firmly in place. He barely had time to process that fact before he felt Tai's other hand down his pants, gripping his erection almost painfully hard. He let out a song that sounded suspiciously like a squeak, but ended in a moan as Tai began stroking him with slow, firm strokes.

Things were moving entirely too fast for his confused brain to process. He struggled a little, trying to get Tai's attention so that he could tell him to slow done, but when he did, Tai's pressure on his jaw increased. He stilled, wondering what had gotten into Tai and tensed his muscles, getting ready to push Tai away with all his strength. Just when he was about to use his arms to push Tai away, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

Tai wrenched his mouth away from Matt's and he panted slightly. There was a decidedly glazed look in his eyes, and he shook his head as if to clear it, when the knocking was heard again, louder this time.

He pulled away from Matt completely, pulled on a pair of boxers, and stumbled over to the door, unlocking it and opening it enough to poke his head out.

Matt rolled over, facing the wall. He could hear Tai and his mother talking, but was unable to hear what was being said. Of course, he wasn't trying very hard to eavesdrop, as his mind was elsewhere. What had gotten into Tai to make him ac that way? Was it a one time occurrence, or was that how Tai always acted?

Matt didn't think that it was normal behavior; he and Tai had shared quiet times together before, and those intimate times hadn't been quite like this one. Then he had a sudden thought, what if it was him who was over-reacting to the situation? If they had been at his house, or if Tai's father hadn't been at home, would he have reacted differently? Had he been leading Tai on? All these thoughts were running through his head, making him so very confused.

He didn't hear Tai shut his door. He didn't hear Tao approaching the bed. He didn't notice much of anything until he felt the bed move as Tai lay down behind him. When Tai's arms circled around his upper body, he couldn't help but give an involuntary flinch. It was that flinch that gave him away.

Tai sighed into the back of Matt's neck when he felt Matt flinch. He knew he had been moving too fast, but damn, it wasn't really all his fault that Matt turned him on so much, was it? Plus, the look Matt had been giving him was a look of complete want. Sighing again he whispered, "Sorry that I got out of control, Matt. It's just..." he trailed off and shrugged his shoulders.

Matt could feel the shrug and could have let things go, but he needed to know what had happened, and more importantly, if it was going to happen again.

He turned in Tai's arms, so that he was facing Tai, still wrapped in Tai's embrace. "What happened, Tai? Why did you push that far, that fast?"

Tai wouldn't meet Matt's eyes as he gave his response. "I couldn't help it. The look you were giving me was screaming that you wanted me. Not that it's an excuse, it's just that your look, coupled with how much I want you, overrode my control."

He finally looked into Matt's eyes, doing his best to hide his hurt. "Why don't you want me?"

Matt's breath caught in his throat as he thought about that. "It's not that I don't want you Tai. It's just that it's too soon. All we've had together is a few short weeks," Matt's eyes hardened slightly, "Hell Tai, we barely know anything about each other. Is it so wrong to want to wait?"

It was Tai's turn to stiffen up, and he slowly unwrapped his arms from around Matt and sat up against the head of his bed. "I just don't get it, Matt. You obviously want me; I obviously want you; and yet we can't be together because it's too soon? That doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to me."

Matt closed his eyes and counted to ten. He should have known that Tai wouldn't understand, and he also knew that he had in fact been leading Tai on earlier. He opened his eyes and sat up, the blanket pooling into his lap as he reached over and placed a hand on Tai's cheek, turning it so that they were facing each other. "I'm just not ready, Tai. Will you just accept that and leave it?"

Tai looked at Matt for a few minutes, and finally bit out, "Fine."

They sat there for a few minutes in silence, before Tai abruptly got up and started changing. Matt watched him for a few minutes, not liking the way things had gone and were going. "Tai, are we going to do anything, today?"

Tai shrugged and started combing his hair. "I have things I have to take care of for my dad. After I do that we can hang out if you want to."

Matt bit his lip. Tai wouldn't look at him right now, he knew that. But, even if he was angry at Tai and Tai was angry at him, he didn't want to start the day like this. The day itself so far had been horrid, and he knew that if they parted feeling like this, then it would just be worse for both of them. Quietly he got up from the bed and walked over to where Tai was still trying to comb his hair. He wrapped his arms around Tai's waist and leaned his head against Tai's back. "I'm sorry."

Tai's arm stopped mid-motion, and he set the comb down. "It's fine Matt. I can wait if you need to." He turned around and hugged Matt back for a few minutes, until he felt Matt calm down. Then he stepped away and continued getting ready for the day. "If you want, you can stay here for a few hours and get some more sleep, or whatever. I really do have to go out today, that's why my mom was at the door. My father expects me to do a couple things today, so I have to get that done before I can do anything else."

"Can I come with you?" Matt asked hopefully.

Tai shook his head, "No Matt. That quicker I get stuff done, the more time I'll have to spend with you later."

Matt watched Tai, feeling as though Tai wasn't telling him the whole truth, but let it go. "Nah, it's okay. I'll just go home and do whatever. I should probably get some work done anyway, before I fall behind."

They spoke casually as they continued to get ready for the day, and with a quick kiss on Matt's cheek, Tai let him leave the bedroom, escorting him to the front door. "When I'm done for today I'll give you a call," he said with a smile.

Matt nodded and smiled back, before putting his shoes on and leaving. There were plenty of things he could do that day to keep his mind off of Tai, at least until he got to see him later.

As soon as Matt left, Tai closed his eyes in exhaustion, before opening them up again, with a firm look of resolve on his face. As tired as he was, and he was tired, he really did have things that he needed to get done that day and while thinking about this situation with Matt was one of them, it wasn't the most important.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed a thermos of black coffee, kissed his mom on the cheek and left for the day. If his father wanted him to read the damn chapter, he would have to go to the school and get it from his locker. While he was there, he might as well grab the syllabus for his other classes and head over to the library. There was no way that he was going to let himself fall behind.

After he was done with that, perhaps he could go look for a new job. Provided he didn't get grounded again for not reading that chapter. Maybe during all that, he would think of a way to handle the tenuous situation with Matt.

* * *

The day hadn't gone like Matt had planned it to. First, he had a list of chores from his mother to do when he had first gotten home. Luckily, he was awake enough to set about doing them quickly and they hadn't taken very long. Shortly after that though, he had gotten a phone call from work, asking him if he could go in for a few hours and bus tables. Apparently one of the bus boys had called in and they couldn't get anyone to cover for him. Matt knew that they were probably desperate, since bussing tables wasn't in his job description, but he readily agreed since he seemed to have an abundance of nervous energy.

Those few short hours turned into a longer shift than he had thought they would, and by the time he had finished it was already five in the evening. He had repeatedly checked his cell phone throughout the day, hoping that Tai would call, or leave him a message when the brunette was done with whatever it was he had to do that day. He was immensely disappointed when he saw that no one had called.

Still, he didn't give up hope for the day. Hopefully Tai would be finished with whatever he was doing soon. With that thought in mind, Matt went home, ate a small meal, and went to his room to get some studying done.

He must have fallen asleep at his desk, because the next thing he knew it was dark outside. The alarm beside his bed read just after eight at night, and he fumbled for his phone to check his messages.

There weren't any messages, but even worse, there wasn't any record of anyone calling either, which meant that Tai had blown him off. He bit the inside of his lip in frustration, and rested his head back onto his desk.

"Hey."

Startled, Matt jerked up off the desk and looked around, finally seeing someone sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall. "Tai," he questioned, knowing as the name left his mouth that he was correct. He reached out and flipped on his desk lamp, bathing the room in its bright glow.

With the lamp on, he could clearly see Tai and was flabbergasted by his presence. "What are you doing here?" he finally managed to ask.

Tai shrugged, "I said I'd see you later if I could," he smiled, "Well, it is later."

"Why didn't you call or wake me up? How did you get in here?" Matt questioned as he swiftly stood up from his chair. He ignored his muscles protest at the abrupt movement.

"I left my cell at home today because I would have been distracted. Your brother let me in," Tai said, the smile still etched on his face.

"But why didn't you wake me up? Have you been waiting long?" The anxious feeling and nervous energy from early had once again sprung up, turning Matt into a pile of nerves.

"You looked peaceful sleeping, and no, I wasn't waiting long," Tai said.

"But now most of the day is gone," Matt said, aware of how completely stupid that sounded.

"It wouldn't have mattered," Tai said. "I just finished everything I needed to do an hour ago. We wouldn't have had much time anyway."

"Well you still should have woken me up," Matt said in exasperation. He noticed that Tai had made no movement to get up off the bed and he studied him silently for a moment. "Do you want something to eat?"

"I already ate."

"Then what do you want to do?" Matt asked, wondering why Tai was being so seemingly difficult tonight. Normally it was himself who would only talk when being asked questions. It was hard to be the one asking such meaningless questions.

"Watch a movie?" Tai asked. "I don't have to be home until midnight, and my mom said she would come and get me."

"Okay," Matt acquiesced, holding out his hand to help Tai off the bed. Watching a movie wasn't what he had expected Tai to say, and not what he wanted him to say. It would be nice, but with his family here he wouldn't be able to cuddle the way he wanted to with Tai, since his mother might walk in at any moment. That put him off quite a bit more than he had been expecting it to.

They both headed out to the living room and selected a movie. Matt quickly made some popcorn and Tai poured them some drinks. Once the preparations were completed they started the movie, leaving the lights in the room off, sitting next to each other but leaving a respectable distance between them.

By the middle of the movie Tai had already gotten up to refill his soda twice and Matt couldn't help but notice how tired he looked. When he had tried to make mention of it, Tai just brushed him off saying that he was fine.

T.K came into the room right after the second time that Tai had gotten up, and forced Matt closer to Tai, as he took a seat on the other cushion on the couch. Now there was almost no distance separating the two and Matt felt quite glad about that. Not touching Tai for the last few hours with him so close was driving him mad. He wondered how it was affecting Tai.

Finally, not being able to handle it anymore, he reached over and grabbed Tai's hand in his, intertwining their fingers, his gaze still forward, watching the movie.

Tai glanced down at their joined hands and shrugged. It was dark enough that no one would notice at first glance, and for now it was acceptable. He had thought long and hard earlier about Matt's problems with intimacy, or at least that's what he termed it. He had come to the decision then to back off. Not completely mind, but enough to where he could keep his hormones in check. He was sure that the decision in part was a way to get Matt back for his ridiculous notions of chastity, but also because he wanted to prove that he could do it. Matt had said they were going to fast, so it was up to him to slow it down. He would miss the reassurance he got from when he touched the blond, but if that was what was needed to calm Matt down, then he would do it. He would make this work, no matter how hard a time he had at controlling himself.

He did have to get up twice more before the movie was finished to refill his soda, but each time he came back he would wait until Matt moved to take his hand. One of the things he decided on by taking this course of action was that he would not initiate anything with Matt, which Matt didn't do first. It was the easiest way to insure that he didn't push Matt too far, too fast.

Once the movie all three of them sat around talking for a little bit, until Tai decided he should call his mom. The night had gone better than he had hoped it would, and while he was aching to touch Matt, he was happy with the amount of control he had exhibited.

Once he had hung up the phone, he slipped his shoes on and was surprised to see Matt waiting by the door for him. When he raised his eyebrow in question the only response he got from Matt was, "I'll go down and wait with you." So he shrugged, and wasn't surprised in the least when Matt grabbed his hand while waiting for the elevator.

Once they were both in the elevator, Matt gave in to his baser needs and gave Tai a scorching kiss, which Tai responded to. That response relaxed Matt enough that he was able to pull away and ask what was on his mind.

"Why are you being so distant tonight, Tai? First you didn't wake me, then you suggested that we watch a movie, and it seems like you're giving me the silent treatment," he sucked in his breath as a thought occurred to him. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Tai looked Matt in the eyes when he responded, so that Matt would know that he meant what he said. "I'm not mad at you Matt, really. I'm just tired from today and I thought it would be nice to just sit back and watch a movie. That's all right, isn't it?" He hadn't directly lied to Matt, since he did feel that way. No, it wasn't how he would have preferred to spend their evening together, but since he wasn't going to get what he wanted, he had settled for the next best thing.

Matt studied Tai's eyes closely and finally appeased with what he saw in them gave a smile. "No, it's fine. I'm just not used to you acting this way is all. You're usually much more active and cheerful."

Matt gave Tai a warm hug, and was thrilled when Tai hugged him even closer, giving him a sweet kiss on the top of his head before pulling away as the elevator doors opened.

They didn't need to wait but a few moments before they spotted the Yagami's car coming down the street.

It wasn't until Matt was back inside, getting ready for sleep that he realized that Tai hadn't told him what he had done that day.


End file.
